It is a funny thing. I was so excited when I ordered it -- I called Mary Gray-Reeves, the Bishop of El Camino Real to make sure she didn't want it. She told me she didn't -- and then I ordered it. I did! My own vanity license plate -- OBISPA. Yes, I know, that word doesn't exist yet in Spanish. Yet. I believe in changing the world one license plate at a time -- obispa is a feminine form of the word obispo which means BISHOP. Spanish speakers at the cathedral center at first shook their heads when they saw it. "La Obispo" is how they referred to me. Well, I think Obispa is much better, and checked it out with Bishop Carranza. He agreed. Actually, lately they have been calling me "obispa". Yes, I'm changing the language one license plate at a time. Then the other day I realized I had "arrived" as our secretary Lilline would say. Yes, it happened -- I have my own parking space at the cathedral center. Never mind the fact that I'm only there only one day a week. Otherwise, as many of you are aware, I am "out and about" -- "wandering and wondering" around the diocese. There may have been part of me that truly looked forward to it. But, then again, there is part of me that is a little embarrassed by it.
I think that in my wanderings and wonderings I will be paying more attention to license plates I see on the road, and parking spaces reserved for clergy. In many places, these reserved spaces are necessary -- in other places, there isn't any need. What does each place look like? How do the clergy feel about having a parking space or not? What about those clergy (and I know they are out there -- I'm thinking specifically about the Church of the Messiah in Santa Ana) where there isn't ANY parking and, in fact, when they go to work they either have to park in a parking garage where they have to pay to park or they have to feed the meter.
If you're out there reading this blog and have a vanity license plate -- would you be willing to share with me what it is? If you have a reserved parking space, what does the reserved sign say and where is it?
Well, I have a reserved parking space at the school I work at. It says "67." (the spaces are just numbered, but each staff member may park only in his/her assigned space.)
ReplyDeleteAt church, we have a space reserved for "Pastor" but our interim rector rides a bike. This is a bit of a problem, since there are so few spots in our parking lot. I have suggested to close friends that they should use that spot to free up the other spots for other people.
Ok, I'm not clergy (yet), but I do have a vanity license plate you might get a kick out of: QWDITCH *grin*
ReplyDeleteWhen I had surgery in August, I asked Fa. Charlie to come and hang out with me while they did all the prep stuff since I am not an easy IV person. After I thought about it, I was concerned that there was no apparent parking at the hospital more centrally located than the parking structure clear at the other end of the hospital campus. I had thought then that clergy really ought to have easier access. I do see reserved spaces for clergy in ER parking lots, which I find highly appropriate.
We don't have any reserved spots at Saint Andrew's Fullerton for anyone except handicapped parking.
-Rae
Cool!
ReplyDeleteI think Rectors and Bishops should have a space because they go in and out and because the other compensations of the job are few and it is a sigh of respect to those who GIVE SO MUCH! I am so glad to know you (if only through blog and sermon) I am amazed at your intelligence and empathy - God dwells in you!
ReplyDeletep.s. I love obisba yes let's change the language as needed!
Not mine, but I spotted this on the 55 south a few weeks back:
ReplyDeleteWWJBD?
Think "Margaritaville."
Well, liturgical maven and church-music lover that I am, I had HYMNL82 as the license plate on my old '88 Mercury Tracer for years. I gave that up when I got my next car, so I haven't had vanity plates since '97. But I bet that sequence is still available! Maybe someday I'll reclaim that plate, if no one else has snapped it up.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite You Tube videos: "What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_dZTrjw9I
A fellow parishioner had RITE I on his caddy. At my parish, all the staff have designated spots, as parking in DC is atrocious. We're lucky to have the lot!
ReplyDeleteI was directed this way from the article about you in "Episcorific." I'm glad to add an RSS feed of another blogging bishop and to get a first person look at what's going on in another part of the church.
When the operations staff at my work repaved the parking lot they had it re-striped with a four foot wide parking space for my scooter, next to the maintenance shed. ED is painted on the ground.
ReplyDelete