The first of several types of bad homilies one often hears in Catholic churches is the excessively pious, excessively credulous homily. The priest speaks about private revelation (visions, locutions, apparitions) as if it is gospel truth. He tells pious stories about the saints that were told in the Middle Ages, again as it they were gospel truth.

For example, last Friday was the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Our priest--a very holy young man who celebrates the Eucharistic sacrifice with great devotion, and who is also an excellent confessor to whom this writer owes a debt of gratitude--explained why statues of St. Joseph often depict Jesus' foster-father with a wooden staff that ends in a lily. The story goes that St. Joseph was one of many suitors for the hand of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Virgin's father asked all the men to give him their staffs and resolved to choose the man by choosing a staff from the pile. Over night a lily--a symbol of purity--grew on Joseph's staff. Mary's father took this as a sign from God that he should choose Joseph.

Granola Conservative has no complaint with the retelling of this story as an explanation of why statues of St. Joseph often depict Joseph holding a staff that ends in a lily. The problem is with the retelling of this story as an explanation of why our Mother Mary married St. Joseph.

Let's stipulate that we do not really know the answer to this question. It is not discussed in the Bible, and, to our knowledge, there are no other reliable contemporaneous accounts. The lily story could be true--Catholics are not materialists, we do not reject a priori accounts of miracles. But is it likely? Do accounts of courtship and marriage practices in Palestine at the time evidence that it was common for a girl's father to choose her husband by choosing the staff of one of the suitors? Are there any trustworthy accounts of this practice? Do lilies sprout from staves? Again, a Catholic cannot reject out of hand the possibility of such a miracle, but he certainly can and should assert that such an event is truly extraordinary. Moreover, if there is a non-miraculous explanation of the event, such explanation ought to be presumptively preferred.

Perhaps the lily story is harmless. Yet there are a few reasons to believe that in fact it is harmful. First, it must be a turn-off to many non-Catholics who might be interested in converting to Catholicism. If a story like this one that seems so far-fetched is preached as truth, should not one also take with a grain of salt other truth claims made by the Church?