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Funny stories from clergy spouses and PK's:
"One morning after a night out where my mom enjoyed her two drink minimum, Mrs. Jeri Proper Church Lady came to the door. My little sister, aged four, practicing her very best manners said, 'I'm sorry, my mommy had too much to drink last night and she's still in bed.' My parents' bedroom was at the top of the stairs. My poor mother heard everything and was mortified!"
"One year we had a full Christmas Pageant rehearsal for all the parish kids but the night of the actual pageant, none of the kids showed up for the performance. The Sunday school teacher cast new pageant members out of the audience five minutes before the performance. Of course, none of the actors on stage knew their lines so the Sunday School teacher said the line and the kid echoed the line through a church which had exquisite acoustical sound! They were not ready for the kids solos at the Eucharist so I sang from the microphone to the whole church. The kids in the Nativity scene tripped over the Sanctus bells, which broke; the shepherds marched down the aisle wearing blinking sneakers; and, Mary and Joseph had stage fright after the performance and had to be coaxed out of the manger back to their parents in the congregation. As the last straw, as my husband lifted the elements in prayer some kid hit the twelve foot manger over the Eucharistic table and a whole bale of hay fell on my husband (in full robes), the sacred elements and the sacred table of the Last Supper. Without a blink my husband swished the hay off the table and carried on with the service !"
"My husband was a late vocation (mid 40's). Our son by that time was a seasoned acolyte. At one of the first services that my husband did there was this very loud stage whisper, 'Dad, you are on the wrong side.' " "My husband, an Episcopal priest, confronted the everyday world in a special way on Ash Wednesday. When he entered the checkout line at Staples Office Supply, the clerk said, 'Oh Sir, you have toner on your forehead!'" Do you have a funny story to share about life in the church? Please email us and let us know! This site is under construction!
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Newsletter Excerpts (Issues 3 and earlier) Community of Spice is a newsletter that is published in support of clergy spouses and partners. We are concerned with all aspects of life in that role. To understand the needs of our members and subscribers better, we have generated a questionnaire about life in the church as a clergy spouse/partner. Below are some of the responses: On the question about our children:
"When our children were little and we were in a parish, I felt their behavior was being scrutinized. I felt tension between wanting them to have a positive church experience and the expectation of parishioners for their behavior."
-- Spouse ordained 37 years
from a PK: "Things that could have been better: youth group was practically nonexistent at our church, those were the days before hired youth directors within the church and my Dad tried his best, but it wasn't his strength, nor did he really have the time to really make it good. It would have been nice to have a youth group. I never attended church camp; that would have been nice also. I did not like being made to fill in for kids who didn't show up when scheduled to acolyte! I didn't like that my mom couldn't really open up to any of the women in the church-maybe that was pressure she put on herself. I don't know."
--Father ordained 41 years
from a PK: "Growing up a PK isn't easy or hard, its just different. Lots of kids can be judged (right or wrong) by what their parents do, but I was always proud of the type of man my father was and is. I just had to learn to share him with everyone else! In the end, I just feel lucky to have been raised by great parents in a caring community."
--Father ordained 34 years
from a PK: "I was actually away at boarding school when my mother got ordained. But I suppose to some extent parishioners saw my parents in me and so expected me to do what they did."
--Mother ordained 13 years
(Anglican Church of South Africa) "We only had one supportive bishop. The others weren't that supportive to anyone except their staff...if that."
-- Spouse ordained 47 years
"We have a great bishop, and I love his wife. They both work very hard to support us as much as they can." -- Spouse ordained 28 years
On the question of Friendships: "We have close friends who are parishioners and most others outside of the church (our best friends are Jewish). We have not had too many clergy couples as close friends."
-- Spouse ordained 25 years
"Making friends is the biggest problem. Two close friends are from the parish and one is a clergy wife who was a parishioner in our first parish. I am very careful about who I confide in, and so far I have been very lucky."
-- Spouse ordained 20 years
On the question of Finances: "In one parish there were times when we had to pay our pledge ahead before the treasurer could, or would, write the monthly pay check. He liked the power! Furthermore clergy were supposed to live in sacrificial poverty."
-- Spouse ordained 40 years
The Cover Photograph of Bishops
The photo on the front page of Issue 3 was taken at the consecration of R. H. Weller as Bishop Coadjutor of Fond du Lac. It became commonly known as "The Fond du Lac Circus," was widely circulated in church publications and became a heated controversy. This was the first public photo showing Episcopal bishops in copes and mitres, rather than the traditional rochet, chimere and tippet.
The gentlemen pictured are 1. The Rt. Rev. Charles Chapman Grafton, Fond du Lac; 2. The Rt. Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, Milwaukee; 3. The Rt. Rev. Charles P. Anderson, (Coadjutor) Chicago; 4. The Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church; 5. The Rt. Rev. G. M. Williams, Marquette (now Northern Michigan); 6. Bishop Weller; 7. The Rt. Rev. Joseph M. Francis, Indianapolis; 8. The Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, Chicago; 9. The Rt. Rev. Arthur L. Williams (Coadjutor) Nebraska; 10. St. John (Kochurov) of Chicago - protomartyr of the Bolshevik Revolution, and 11. Fr. Sebastian Dabitovich, chaplains to the Russian Bishop 12. St Tikhon, Orthodox Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
Would you like to weigh in on any (or all) of the questions we have posed to clergy spouses? Email us and let us know. All sensitive correspondence received
by Community of Spice is held in the strictest confidence. | 
What is it like for your children? |
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