Welcome to my online diary, enjoy your stay!
| Well I went to the abbey of Averbode yesterday to my appointment with the priest who is going to help me get back into the Catholic Church. I didn't really know what to expect when I went there. The weather behaved itself so I could easily cycle there - I just told my parents that I needed some fresh air after having been ill and didn't tell them the real reason for going there. They are not religious at all, and I didn't want to cause any more polemics than I already did. But still I was kind of nervous... When I arrived there I found the shop closed (too bad), so I went straight to the double doors of the Pastorie and pulled the bell (it was an ancient pulling-bell and I had to pull twice before it sounded To my amazement, a lady opened the door. I understood she worked there as a secretary or receptionist, because when I told her the purpose of my visit she went to fetch Father D. whom I had an appointment with. She brought me to a little waiting room, but the father arrived very quickly. I explained him my biggest problem : the fact that I was officially muslim and that I wanted to be an official Catholic again - with the complicating fact that I had already been baptized. He didn't have an answer immediately to that, so he went to phone some people at the archdiocese ! Waw, all this trouble over little me, quite amazing. When he came back he said he would have more information on Monday evening, because the people who could grant him permission to take me back in the Church were not there anymore (it was Friday 4 pm then). So, on Monday evening I promised to give the father a call. Then I asked how the Church considered me, with a view to my past marriage and divorce outside the church while my husband had passed away. He said that in those conditions I am an unmarried woman for the Church because my wedding never has been valid. That was what I thought too, but it was nice to have it confirmed by someone who knew it better ! I explained the priest that I wanted to become a therapist and had stopped working for that. He found it an excellent choice to help people, and said that psychological problems were on the increase the last twenty years. Confirmation again that what I want to do is the right thing, that's nice to hear. I have too often heard (or implicitly heard) that the job I did before that was completely useless - and it is. Nobody misses a secretary, they can easily be replaced. But I would like to mean more than that to people. |