A couple of days later, when her phone rang, up popped the words “Church of the Incarnation” on her caller ID.
She couldn’t imagine what it was about but took the call: it was Mr. Ousley nervously introducing himself on the other end.
“Are you at church?” she asked.
When he told Ms. Fern that he was the rector, she said, she was aghast. He then asked if she went to church. “I told him I don’t really go to an organized church,” said Ms. Fern, who was raised as an Episcopalian and considers herself religious, but not a churchgoer. Read it all.
I might expect a priest to spend Good Friday evening at Church and observing the fast rather than having his first date at an Italian restaurant, but that’s just me. Each to his own piety. But I wonder…if Lincoln had been at church on Good Friday rather than going to the theatre, might he have lived another thirty years?
Congratulations to the happy couple, I pray for many years of faithful love and that Ms. Fern may come to faith. Perhaps a love that began slightly improbably on Good Friday come one day come together to Easter Day.
NY Times can’t find the story.
As a fellow alumnus of Kings College London, I wish them every happiness.
For me personally, not being an active church goer/believer would be a deal breaker. I expect I wouldn’t have kept going out with Ms. Fern. Of course I am not an Episcopal priest. Reminds of me of an old C&W song “She never cried when Ole Yeller died, She wasn’t washed in the blood of the Lamb, She didn’t stand for the Star Spangled Banner, And she wasn’t a John Wayne fan”. Pretty simple, actually.