In 2005 while studying Theology, there was a priest in our student community from one of the local congregations of my region. He was a young priest with a couple of years of pastoral experience. He was studying a Masters programme. However, he was so odd and weird and eccentric, in a negative sense, that most of us in the community wondered how on earth did he ever pass through all those years of formation and get ordained! If I were on his formation staff, he'd been out of the programme in a month!
As if his antiques in the community were not enough of an embarrassment, he told us how he was ordained. In his third and penultimate year of theology, which was in the year 2000, his congregation was looking forward to the ordination of 25 deacons to commemorate the special year. Unfortunately sometime just before the day of ordination, one of them changed his mind. The congregation was keen to retain the number and hence "promoted" one from the next batch to get ordained. And who was it? Our friend!
That day, the little respect we had for that congregation evaporated like mist disappears in the desert in summer! That they were keen to maintain the numbers was bad enough, but then to rush one to ordination? Even then, we'd suppose they'd chose one most prepared or eligible. This guy?? I'm still totally biased against that congregation!
Luckily the apostles did not make such a blunder in choosing Mathias, to replace Judas. Was it necessary? Did it make a big difference? Not sure. Hopefully it didn't for Mathias himself. He continued being and doing what he was upto as before. And the body of apostles had their selection criteria clear and sensible.
As if his antiques in the community were not enough of an embarrassment, he told us how he was ordained. In his third and penultimate year of theology, which was in the year 2000, his congregation was looking forward to the ordination of 25 deacons to commemorate the special year. Unfortunately sometime just before the day of ordination, one of them changed his mind. The congregation was keen to retain the number and hence "promoted" one from the next batch to get ordained. And who was it? Our friend!
That day, the little respect we had for that congregation evaporated like mist disappears in the desert in summer! That they were keen to maintain the numbers was bad enough, but then to rush one to ordination? Even then, we'd suppose they'd chose one most prepared or eligible. This guy?? I'm still totally biased against that congregation!
Luckily the apostles did not make such a blunder in choosing Mathias, to replace Judas. Was it necessary? Did it make a big difference? Not sure. Hopefully it didn't for Mathias himself. He continued being and doing what he was upto as before. And the body of apostles had their selection criteria clear and sensible.
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