Amy Welborn thought the "Pope tries to win hearts and minds by saving souls of unbaptised babies" was the worst headline ever. Well I think I have found a contender for that title in an AP story.
Woman Turns Down Sex for Jesus
Though the article itself is a nice one on a consecrated virgin.
She stood at the altar in a white gown and veil, but she was there for no earthly man. Lori Rose Cannizzaro was dedicating her virginity to Jesus.
Saturday’s rare Catholic ceremony, one her own pastor didn’t know existed, turned the 42-year-old into a ‘consecrated virgin.’ Fewer than 200 women in the United States and 2,000 worldwide have declared their perpetual virginity this way, according to U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins.
‘There are people who think I’m nuts,’ Cannizzaro said.
The ceremony was a revival of one of the church’s oldest rituals.
The rite is available only to virgins, who agree to abstain from sex so they can dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ in what the association describes as a mystical marriage and a profound spiritual blessing. Each woman wears a band on her left ring finger as a symbol, much like a wedding band.
Cannizzaro, who is not a nun, will continue to live on her own and work as a cook at Christ the King Seminary in a Buffalo suburb.
She said she has plenty of support from family and friends.
‘It is a good and holy thing to want to be in a virginal state,’ she said.
8 comments
Actually, it is not just open to virgins: although it was called the order of Consecrated Virgins, now it is often referred to as “Consecrated Women”… technically the “requirement” seems to be that a woman should not have had children.
…at least, I hope this is the case: I’m exploring this route in my own diocese (both my SD and the Vicar General have assured me that there’s no biological examination involved!!)
😉
Actually, the Rite of Consecration of Virgins is indeed restricted to virgins, not just women without children (they can neither have been married nor lived in open violation of chastity, as it states in canon law). Anyone interested should visit consecratedvirgins.org and/or contact the US Association of Consecrated Virgins for more information.
There’s at least one person in the English-speaking Catholic community of Mtl who has done this. I know because she’s a friend of the family.
There are so many way this headline could go….few of them clean. Let’s just accept it for what it is.
Ms. Cannizzaro may be nuts, but in the right way.
I don’t know what’s wrong with the woman in this story. After reading the headline, I said, “What’s wrong with her? If Jesus wanted sex, I’d give it to him.”
A woman at my mom’s parish consecrated herself as a virgin a few years ago. Her name would appear on the church bulletin underneath the priest’s name, etc.
Speaking of reviving old rites, my parish had a young man installed as an acolyte over the summer, not because he was on the seminarian track to priesthood, but because he desired to serve the church as an acolyte. Now he’s altar-boy-for-life.
This story was also in the weekend Faith and Values section of the Atlanta Journal/Constitution.
Amazing how these stories are suddenly picked up by various newspapers.
Anyway, the impression I got from the story was, “Look at this freak. She gave up SEX for her Faith? How very quaint.”
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