There’s a shiny new blog on the block, A New Song, from a colleague of mine, Douglas Souza, who toils from time to time (as I do) for Liturgical Publications.

Doug’s latest post is worth reading for a variety of reasons — not least being that it is the eloquent testament of a man who finds himself in unusual circumstances, the sort you don’t read about very often:

Everyday, I rush expectantly to my mailbox. I am waiting for my invitation to the banquet. For the past two years, I have been in the process of seeking what is called a “dispensation from the duties of priestly ministry and celibacy.” In other words, I am a former Roman Catholic priest awaiting permission to be married in the Church.

In the past, I have received many invitations to the banquet. I waited eagerly to learn that I was accepted to Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. Eventually, I received an invitation to continue my studies in Rome. Then, I received the letters inviting me to ordination first as a deacon and then as a priest. All those invitations I received with a mixture of joy and trepidation, but I never failed to say “yes” to them. Then, after about six years of ministry, I asked to be taken off the guest list. There were other invitations I wanted to respond to.

My decision in 2001 to hold a wedding banquet of my own meant that I would no longer be able to receive communion or the other sacraments. I certainly knew what I was doing, but at the time I was convinced that I would never be given permission to marry and that the alternative would be a life of frustration – unable to return to ministry and unable to pursue marriage.

At first, my decision not to receive Eucharist was superficial. I didn’t want to put my pastor in the uncomfortable situation of either having to deny me communion (which he wouldn’t have done) or having to defend me (which he certainly would have). And, since during my ministry I urged couples who were living together or married outside the Church not to receive communion, I couldn’t, in conscience, then receive when I found myself in their shoes.

As the years have gone on, my decision has taken on new meaning…

Read the rest to see what that meaning might be. It’s really something stirring, and beautiful.