format_quote Originally Posted by
Follower
Interesting on monasticism- just had a discussion about this with a fellow Christian today- How can a Priest trully understand and minister to a family, about marriage, parenting, etc. when he has not had a "normal" life exprience.
With respect to your own particular understanding of "normal", what one person experiences as "normal" others will experience as something other than their own normal. No pastor is going to have a life experience that ministers to all: single, married, divorced, widowed, young, middle-aged, old, rich, poor, student, working, unemployed, healthy, infirmed, ethnic minority, majority, male, female -- the idea that a pastor has to be married to truly understand and minister to a family about marriage, parenting, etc. implies that he needs to truly understand. I suggest to you that he doesn't. He needs to understand how to communicate the word of God to people in those situations and trust that God truly understands, for no human being could possibly truly understand the life experiences that another has even were that person his/her twin.
I think you jump to a hasty conclusion if you a projecting that a monastic could not relate to a another human being as well as a non-monastic individual based solely on their respective life experiences. I've never given birth (nor will I ever), but only rarely do the pregnant women of my congregation call asking to visit with my wife rather than me. They're looking for spiritual guidance which I can still provide though I've never been pregnant, those that are looking for human guidance have plenty of other sources to turn to.