My uncle, the priest

My mother has two siblings, both male. One is my uncle. The other is my uncle the priest. As in, he’s a priest. And he’s also my uncle. This is going to be about him. <br><br>When I was younger, I sometimes wondered why my uncle had never married. My uncle the priest didn’t enter the picture until I was a bit older. <br><br>Well.<br><br>During my teen years, I started to hear a few things. My uncle the priest had a wife. And kids.<br><br>Eventually, he left the priesthood. <br><br>The next I heard, my uncle the priest had gone back to being the priest: that he had left his wife for the church. She had asked for an annulment of their marriage, as required by the church for him to be a priest.<br><br>Eventually, supposedly, she received the requested paperwork from the church, but there was no follow-up beyond the fact that uncle the priest remained a priest. I’ll never forget the day I first heard that he had left the church and gotten married (for the first time) and thought that I had done that math wrong. <br><br>Uncle the priest is still a priest.<br><br>His son used to go to my church, and comes up from time to time. He seems to be okay, now, but he was in some terrible church drama for a time. I’ll spare the details, but it had a lot to do with the church leadership and the way the Parishioners were treated. He had gone to his father for support, as you might do with your family, and his father had refused.<br><br>Today, I heard that he is in the process of getting an annulment from his wife. His uncle the priest had convinced him, and so he is.<br><br>I should point out that my uncle the priest has never married. He is still a priest. He has children. His “wife” is not his wife. <br><br>My uncle the priest, by the way, is a monsignor. He will be a bishop soon. Very close friends to our new archbishop. Very close friends, indeed.<br><br>I wish I could say he was an outlier, but the thing is, he isn’t. My other parish has a priest who always had a housekeeper. When he retired, he left all his wealth to her. The church was very surprised, but since he didn’t leave it to the church, it was really none of their business. It was a big scandal with his former parishioners, but that’s all.<br><br>When I was in college, I was a member of a campus ministry. One of the priests was very active, and later left the priesthood to get married. The new priest was much more reserved. After I graduated, I heard he had left the priesthood and married. But, you know.<br><br>My uncle the priest is not the only one. <br><br>The last thing I have to tell you is about another member of my extended family. She was an immaculate conception. Born out of wedlock, 6 months after her parents had married. She was the oldest, and has always been told it was because she was conceived inside of a marital bed.<br><br>When I was in fifth grade, I spent 6 weeks or so living with my uncle the priest. My parents were getting a divorce, and thought it would be better if I were away for the time being. This was fine. I even went to mass on Fridays.<br><br>But one day, because I was there, uncle the priest spoke to his housekeeper (the same one he’d had since I was born) about the church. He told her that now that the new archbishop was around, he felt he could begin working towards being a bishop. She was very happy, and congratulated him. He asked her to think of him when he was a bishop, and he’d get her a good seat.<br><br>Excuse me?<br><br>To say the least, I had never heard of priests having housekeepers. I’m sure they sometimes do. But this one was the same woman, in the same Parish, for more than 20 years.<br><br>“Will you live in a new house when you’re a bishop?” I asked. My uncle the priest laughed and said, “yes.”<br><br>“Who will be your housekeeper? “ I asked.<br><br>“You’ll never guess,” he said.<br><br>“I think I might,” I said.<br><br>I didn’t. I didn’t know what was happening. But it turns out I was right. <br><br>One of my uncle the priest’s sons. <br><br>The one who used to go to my parish, the one who’s now getting an annulment: that’s my uncle the priest’s son. The one I thought I’d done the math wrong on.<br><br>My uncle the priest’s housekeeper’s son. The one that’s still a priest. He’s not married to his current church appointed housekeeper.<br><br>And I still can’t do the math.