I just saw a movie trailer which contained a variant of a joke I've seen countless times. Two nuns are waiting to board a train, and the conductor mentions to a bystander that it's the nuns' first time on a train. The bystander says, "Well, there's a first time for everything!" as he slaps one of the nuns on the bum, making her squeal.

This joke has been used soooooo many times---people getting raunchy with clergy or nuns and so on. Seems like these people are the butt of way too many celibacy jokes. I wonder if real nuns and clergy have to deal with that from amateur comedians?

Anyway, I read an excellant book lately that addresses celibacy in the church (no it wasn't The Thorn Birds). It talks about the spiritual reasons behind it, and it helped me understand it better. It's also a sort of sci-fi novel, though it's theme is faith and spirituality. The recent Chrisitanity thread got me thinking about this book.
It's called The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. There's also a sequel. My boyfriend has always been interested in the Jesuits, and this book's main character is a Jesuit priest (Mike is the one who gave me this book). I highly recommend it---if you read this book, let me know what you think of it. It's got aliens too.

--Jez"reading 'A Confederacy of Dunces' right now"zika