I go to church with the family; it’s a good family thing to do. It’s a catholic church; the mass can be very beautiful and moving at times. I was raised catholic but somewhere along the line my mind got warped. Was it all those Twilight Zone episodes I watched as a teenager? At certain moments during the mass strange images and thoughts course though my head. One thing that I really struggle with is the virginity of Mary.
For catholics, it is very important that Mary, the mother of God, be a virgin. Strange how she is still referred to as the Virgin Mary even though she was married. So Mary and Joseph were never intimate? They never sleep together as husband and wife? Of course they did. Why catholics refuse to recognize this almost seems to me as an insult to them.
Catholics refuse to recognize the sexuality not only Jesus’ mother, but of his father as well. For after all, if Mary was a life long virgin, and married to Joseph, then Joseph was celibate as well… unless he was unfaithful, and, as Jesus’ father, an unfaithful Joseph is even harder to accept than a celebate one.
Is this the link for the catholic church? Is it really a message to catholic priests? In our minds force Mary to be a virgin, therefore so is Joseph and if he can do it so can you!
But then we see that this backfires for some and they resort to secretive, twisted, unhealthy and abusive sexual practices. Of course Mary and Joseph can be virgins; they’re dead. Much harder to do for the living.
At the ”Just For Catholics” website the discussion on topic of Mary’s virginity (after Jesus’ birth ) begins not by focusing on the question at hand but rather by claiming that it is a ”curiosity” that we are even asking the question; in other words we are in the wrong for even asking the question. Obviously they don’t want the virginity of the woman questioned and to no doubt, if I were a catholic priest endevouring to remain celibate I wouldn’t want the celibacy of two of the most revered religious figures questioned either.
Good links: http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/virgin.htm
http://maranatha777.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/did-mary-remain-a-virgin/
http://www.tbm.org/didmary.htm (see bottom)