A Rogers and Hart Hymn, "Where or When"

My now infamous college friend, she-who-must-be-ordained, will become an Episcopalian priest this summer. The date for the ceremony has been announced. It is firm, set in cement. Calendars can be marked, and motel rooms reserved. The new Bishop of Minnesota, Bishop Brian N. Prior, now knows when to be there. That's fortunate since he'll officiate. The women-who-must-be-ordained know when to be there. Their families and friends, including moi, know when to be there. What we don't know is the precise time of the "when" or the exact location of the "there." The Episcopalians apparently must confer with each other, exchanging ideas, discussing all eventualities before they can answer definitively the simple questions: Where? When? Their uncertainty surely must cause stress. We Catholiques are given little opportunity to confer, exchange ideas, discuss. We are issued directives. For us questions like Where? and When? don't exist. Instead we are given answers and the opportunity to figure out the questions. Denominational jeopardy. We grumble because we have so little input, but .... We seem to like the certainty, the lack of stress. We like being sheep even if only the rams in our flock can be ordained. Since we need some certainty now, perhaps we should be singing that great Rodgers and Hart hymn, "Where or When?"