No Priest Is Tone Deaf

Maybe I'm just lucky, but at least, from my experience, I haven't heard any priest who's tone deaf yet.

Weird accents, yes. Boring sermons, definitely yes. But when they actually sing words of God, their voice comes across as pure and strong.

This works really well with me because I love to sing. I think that singing is one of the best ways to communicate. Hearing mass is okay. Saying your responses after the priest is also okay. But when I sing in harmony with the choir, the priest and the whole congregation, it just hits me right where it counts. I feel closer to humanity and to God. I feel more open and self-expressive. And I feel like at that moment that you open your mouth and belt out the first few notes of a worship song, it just feels so darn good.

Those of you whom I'm personally acquainted with know that I've recently re-discovered my Catholic faith. After more than 10 years of spiritual confusion and eventually complete withdrawal, I've started once again to look for my spiritual side - the one that believes that good triumphs over evil and that good guys do not finish last.

I've been roaming around neighboring towns and cities, looking for the church that I feel like I would belong in. I also tried different schedules - at un-"godly" hours of 7 in the morning or even as late as 6 in the evening. Thus, I've came across quite a few priests for the past four weeks or so.

Some are native Filipinos, while some are clearly imported from Mainland China. Some have a wacky sense of humor that reminds you of a religious Jay Leno, while others seem to have none at all. Some look positively angelic, while some actually look like they're just dressing up as priests because they look like they have this constant mischievous thoughts on their minds.

But regardless of the differences, I surprisingly found something common in all of them. They have different voices when they preach the Gospel. But when they sing, assuming that they do not have colds at that time, every single one of their voices come out solid and forceful.

Now I don't claim to have seen and heard all priests all over the world, but so far, I haven't encountered any priest yet who can't carry a tune... Well, at least during Mass that is. I'm not sure how they'll fare at a karaoke bar, but definitely, inside the house of God, they'll be able to join Amreican Idol and not be laughed at.

I wonder: Is this one of the unwritten requirements of becoming a priest? Just kidding.