How are Plumbers like Bishops and Priests?

I suppose celebrities like Oprah get used to their mansions with service people coming in and out daily to work. Personally, I like my privacy. I'd prefer to have only family and friends cross my threshold. When the plumber came today and had free reign of the house for two hours, I maintained composure on the outside, but inside . . . I was counting the minutes. When he left one bathroom, I would sneak down the hall to see if that room was done. Good . . . only one more water closet to get water tight.

And then, the capper. Four hundred dollars. Yep, that's right. We paid $400 to have a plumber cramp our style for a few hours just so he could fix two toilets that weren't installed properly when we built the house. All that inconvenience just to get the house into order. Not a repair. A correction. We didn't do anything wrong. The general contractor did.

I just read a few comments on Facebook that a reader posted under the Catholic News Service article on marriage. One person went totally off the deep end about how the Bishops need to mind their own business and quit sticking their noses into marriages. He/she wrote quite a bit. Six or seven entries. (I say he or she because I'm not sure if Sky is a boy or a girl.) Anyway, his main beef with the Church was that family planning is not Church business. It's the most sacred sacrament (according to Sky), but the Church shouldn't have anything to do with it (also according to Sky).

Many years ago, I met a Catholic woman who was as vocal against Church teaching on artificial contraception as Sky. She ranted whenever the topic came up. But there were always a few Catholics around who quietly, gently voiced their love for Catholic teaching. Sometimes pregnant, sometimes already far into the parenting scene, these faithful Catholics fully supported Mother Church - always with a smile and a sigh, and an understanding of just what a joy it is to be a parent, to have children, and to experience the grace of being a Catholic family.

I realized, somewhere along the way, that the ones who are so angry with Mother Church are really a lot like I am when workers come in to fix things in my home. I don't want them meddling in my private life. I resent that they are there. I can't simply tell myself that the issues are not their fault. The brokenness predates their little visit. In fact, they are there to set things right.

We are broken. They know what to do to fix things. If we are willing to submit to the uncomfortable process of getting things rightly ordered, all will be well. Peace will come again. The home will work precisely as it is meant to work.

And so, it is in our best interest to open the door of marriage to Church Authority.

That is, if we truly wish to have a marriage that works as God planned for it to work.

Marriage is a beautiful Sacrament - and like all Sacraments, this Sacrament comes from the Heart of Mother Church. And She knows what will bring true and lasting happiness. So really, it's like my little plumber metaphor, with only one modification: imagine how wrong it would be for me to resent the plumber who GAVE THE HOUSE TO ME in the first place.