The Flying Nun

Is anyone here old enough to remember The Flying Nun? Or is my age showing when I admit I watched Sally Field play Sister Bertrille?

I loved that show and for a while I entertained thoughts of being a nun just so I could fly. Then, of course, I realized I had little call--all right, no call--to the vocation. Whether flying without a plane or spaceship was one of the perks or not, I just wasn't up to the challenge of being a nun.

You're not surprised, are you?

Anyhow, seeing Sally Field lift off with a hand on her cornette and a smile on her face was always a good experience. But this morning's headlines, about the missing flying priest, is definitely not uplifting. Apparently he thought he'd raise money by setting a record but his balloons have been found floating in the ocean. He was not attached to the balloons when they were found.

I'm not even going to talk about suspension of belief here because really, what's there to say? If a priest has belief enough to think he should go flying about over an ocean suspended by party balloons, who am I to question it? All I can say is, I hope he's found--alive and well.

As a kid I believed the flying magic was a combination of faith and the cornette. Yeah, I thought a lot of the flying fun rested right on the tips of that white hat. But Sister Bertrille used to say, "When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly." So maybe, even without a hat, faith is enough to carry a Spanish priest. I certainly hope that's the case.