{"id":118,"date":"2015-08-29T19:26:34","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T19:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/?p=118"},"modified":"2015-09-01T20:03:48","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T20:03:48","slug":"father-bernie-meets-fresh-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/?p=118","title":{"rendered":"Father Bernie Meets Fresh Meat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Father Bernie Meets Fresh Meat<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Robert J. Marton<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHello, George.\u00a0 I\u2019m surprised to see you walking in the middle of the day.\u00a0 I thought you were an early morning walker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI usually am, Father, but the group goes to Father Jim\u2019s early Mass on Tuesdays, and then has breakfast together afterward.\u00a0 But I can\u2019t miss my walk.\u00a0 These old knees would really stiffen up if I didn\u2019t keep them limber.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes Father Jim go to breakfast too?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess that\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t fix my pancakes on Tuesday.\u00a0 He\u2019s the cook in the house.\u00a0 When he doesn\u2019t cook breakfast, I\u2019m reduced to having cereal.\u00a0 Is the group you\u2019re referring to Sister Parvula\u2019s bereavement group?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the one.\u00a0 Although I hear people call it the Lonely Hearts Club or even worse,\u201d George said with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll admit, when I first joined, all those swarming widows made me feel like fresh meat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a butcher, I guess you\u2019re familiar with fresh meat.\u201d<\/p>\n

George laughed.<\/p>\n

Father Bernie asked, \u201cHow is Charlotte?\u00a0 I understand you\u2019re seeing a lot of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s fine.\u00a0 She\u2019s been great for me, by the way.\u00a0 Having her in my life has helped a lot. I joined the bereavement group to help deal with Jane\u2019s death.\u00a0 It really hit me hard.\u00a0 Charlotte went through the same thing when her husband died two years ago, so she was able to help me learn how to grieve \u2026 in a healthy way, as Sister Parvula says.\u00a0 I certainly wasn\u2019t looking for a new companion, but Charlotte and I have a lot in common and we enjoy each other\u2019s company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s wonderful.\u00a0 A marriage in sight?\u00a0 I keep hearing rumors.\u00a0 You know Sister loves to play cupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little too soon for that,\u201d George replied.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think my children are ready for that either.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe down the line.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe we\u2019ll end up just living together.\u00a0 But I guess the church would beat us up on that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it will,\u201d Father Bernie replied.\u00a0 \u201cBut Charlotte and you will do what\u2019s right for the two of you.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you both have a good relationship with God.\u00a0 He\u2019ll show you the way and help you figure it out.\u00a0 Besides, it might be worth it just to see Sister\u2019s reaction when she learns she has united two sinners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we wouldn\u2019t be the first ones of the group to ignore the formalities of matrimony,\u201d George said. \u201cI understand they even had a lesbian couple a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if they were lesbians before their husbands died?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows?\u00a0 But they seem happy.\u00a0 They still socialize with the group, at least when Sister isn\u2019t around.\u00a0 They\u2019re surely not hurting anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge, I\u2019m not going to approve or disapprove.\u00a0 I\u2019m here to help folks find the right path.\u00a0 And that path may not be the same for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, my path leads up this road, Father.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll continue on it.\u00a0 See you in Confession.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBring me some interesting sins.\u00a0 Sometimes it gets really dull.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll work on that.\u00a0 Good bye, Father.\u00a0 Enjoy your walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGod Bless You, George.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Bernie Meets Fresh Meat By Robert J. Marton \u201cHello, George.\u00a0 I\u2019m surprised to see you walking in the middle of the day.\u00a0 I thought you were an early morning walker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}