Guest blogger Mantilla Amontillado is the founder of Veritas Vestments. She holds a degree in Ecclesiastical Haberdashery from Salamanca University. She has done the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella three times on horseback and is engaged to the famous matador, Senor Augusto Torquemada

OK. Let me tell you something hon. I think you don’t know how hard our priests work sometime. I’m going to tell you something about my good friend Fr. Longenecker. He a good man OK hon? Not only does he have to deal with being a priest, which is a burden, but he has to deal with Mrs. Longenecker and four kids.

I tell you the truth, Mrs Longenecker is one hot tamale, and she’s always there like a rock for Father, but still you know it is a lot to deal with, and maybe most priests can come home and kick off their shoes and watch a little bit of television and play Sudoku and relax. Fr. Longenecker comes home and helps kids with homework and plays ping pong and chess with his sons and listens to his high school kids and listens to Mrs Longenecker. You know what I mean?

Then you people who read his blog wonder why he’s not all the time writing more blog posts for you? Maybe sometime he just get worn out ok? He needs to, what you say? Charge his batteries a little. I tell you this because he was coming to me to have a new cassock fitted and I am saying to him, “How do you do this father? This being a priest and a blogger and writing books and articles and everything else?” He just smiles and says, “You know Mantilla, I like what I do, therefore it doesn’t seem like work.” He’s like my fiance, Augusto, the famous matador. He like what he do too, and maybe Fr. Longenecker is like that. He like to fight bulls and not just that. He like to fight the other kind of bull too. You know what I mean?

Anyway hon. I tell you something secret. Anybody ever tell you the definition of a secret? It’s something you tell one person at a time. OK. So listen. Fr. Longenecker tells me that he thinks he’s not really like a matador. He think’s he’s more like Don Quixote. Just an old fool who reads the old books and wants to be a knight in shining armor and all that stuff. You know I think he’s a little bit crazy, but don’t tell him I said so! So hon, if he’s a little bit like Don Quixote I think that’s kind of sweet and I don’t say anything ’cause I’m pinning up the hem on his cassok, but I’m thinking, “Hey, if you are Don Quixote, I will be Dulcinea and you can rescue me.” Then I look at him in the mirror and give him a smile, but he’s not there anymore. He’s thinking about something and has this faraway look on his face and this little grin like a boy who just figured something out you know?

So, if you think he’s not writing enough blog posts right now maybe you give him a break OK hon? If you want to read more stuff and don’t mind cooking and birds and Latin prayers and all that brick by brick stuff, then keep quiet and go over at Fr. Z’s blog and stop nagging Fr Longenecker. He my friend, and if you keep on going on about him not writing enough you’re going to have to deal with Mantilla the Hon, and that’s not going to be real pretty. You know what I mean?