According to the Roman Catholic Church (at least in 1999, when Till Death by William X. Kienzel was written), if a priest "takes a leave of absence," is allowed to become laity, and marries, he can never become a priest again. However, if a priest "takes a leave of absence," does not go through the process to become laity again, and marries, he may be reinstated to the priesthood.
This novel centers around two couples, made up of two laitized nuns, one laitized priest, and one priest who has "taken a leave of absence," but does not wish to become laity again. Both priests are sexually active with their ex-nun girlfriends. However, the priest gets drunk one night and is driven home by his ex-priest friend's girlfriend. They have sex, and she gets pregnant, so they get married. The ex-priest and the other ex-nun do the only logical thing and start living with each other. The active priest married "till death." But one wonders, if death is not caused by an act of commission, but by an act of omission, is it murder?
No comments:
Post a Comment