priest my @#&%!!!

WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST; Confessions of a priest . . . sort of
By THOMAS DILLON (from the Japan Times)

Meet "Father Smith" -- silver hair, gentle smile and a voice so mellow that it flows with a grace from beyond. Maybe there is a God and maybe there isn't, but when you're with Father Smith, you tend to believe that maybe there is.

There's just one thing. He's as phony as hell. "I'm an English teacher," he says. "I marry people at a hotel chapel on weekends. I wear the robes, a cross, the whole nine yards. Nobody knows. And nobody cares." He smiles his smile. "Except for maybe me."

It's show time! The No. 1 job for Westerners in Japan is certainly language teaching. But No. 2? Here's a guess -- it might be "acting." The curtain rises at wedding halls and hotel chapels all across the land on each Saturday and Sunday, and most holidays too.

The "gaijin" performer on center stage is sometimes a legitimate man of the cloth, but more than often he is not. He's just a regular Joe out to pull in some extra yen by playing a minister at a fancy Japanese wedding.
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This is TRUE. Most co-called ministers are nothing more than ESL teachers making a quick buck on the side. One acquaintance of mine, an agnostic guy, did it in Tokyo on the weekend. What a total SHAM, I think.

When we were talking about which wedding house to go with, I went as far as to bluntly ask the staff if the minister at their facility was a fake. Did he have a certificate? A real one or one attained at a weekend crash course, 'becoming a minister 101?' Was he Japanese or Caucasian?

For the minister to 'fit' the Western Christian image, he must be Caucasian. That perfect Christian wedding, that they try so hard to recreate here in the fake stain-glass adorned churchs (made specifically for wedding and nothing but weddings!), is a booming industry here.

Real minister and Japanese vs. fake minister and Caucasian. Do you even have to ask me which I'd prefer? The real minister of course. I grew up a Catholic, converted into a non-denominational Christian...I am by no means intensely religious or excessively devote, but this is something serious, this is marriage I am talking about! Something sacred to me and hopefully to others regardless of religious background.

Some say marriage is an institution. As that may be, it is an institution which I firmly believe in. It is proven that those (in their later years) who are married are healthier than those who are not. I think it has something to do with supporting one another mentally, physically, and spiritually along the path of life. (on the other hand, an unhealthy marriage is said to lead to a shorter life) Your thoughts?