On Sassing Priests

I think you definitely, definitely need a blogpost – “On Sassing the Clergy.” Just had a good round with Fr. Dinosaurhead and I thought about what you said about the devil just makes you do it. Me too. So much so that my sister’s always telling me how shamefully irreverent is my attitude towards him. Just to recap – Protestant sister chiding me for showing no respect to the Roman clergy. The minions of the Whore of Babylon. --Sister Margarita



I'm fairly certain that it is our Christian duty to give at least particular priests a good deal of grief. The thing that men don't realize about themselves is that the need/love to be nagged a bit by women. And women need to call them out on things.

All of this relies on my argument (I think "assertion" is a more accurate word here, actually) about chivalry and flirting. There is a difference between men and women that ought to be delighted in. And we delight in this with priests, oftentimes, by sassing them.

My favorite, which evoked from from Fr. D a rebuke with the heel of his hand on my forehead, I can't actually remember the particulars of. I know it involved Frankincense asking a good question during Sunday school. And I remember that she didn't understand Fr. D's answer, so she asked him to explain it. And he misunderstood and instead of explaining himself, he simply repeated his answer. Lenore: "That's great pedagogical form, Fr. D. When someone doesn't understand what you say, just repeat yourself, and say it louder."

Probably another part of it is the convert element. When you convert to something, it is important to know all of the dirt up front. And you want to know the explanation, too. And then you have to tease the person who's explaining it all to you to make sure that they're telling you the truth.