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By Atom Heart Father on April 20th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
While visiting with my in-laws outside of Erie I attend their parish for Sunday mass. I have noticed something there that I’ve noticed at other parishes, and it drives me nuts: slovenly attire worn by those attending mass, in particular those serving at the altar.
How can people serve at the altar in the Divine Presence wearing blue jeans and sneakers? How can parents allow their children to dress so poorly for such a high office? More importantly, I wonder how priests can allow children to serve like that? I’ve even seen it at weddings!
I’ve heard arguments about God wanting us to “come as we are” and that it’s good that parents bring their children to church at all. Granted, it is better to be there than to not be there, and some people cannot afford fancy “Sunday go to meetin’” clothes, but I’m certain these suburban folks, working class though they are, would dress themselves and their children better if the Mayor, the President, Dad’s or Mom’s boss, or the Pope came to dinner. Why can’t they dress appropriately for the King of Kings as we celebrate the Paschal Meal?
I’ve also heard that priests couldn’t just turn kids away for dressing thusly. Why not? Servers are not mandatory. Serving is a privilege, not a right. Poorly dressed, poorly trained, and sometimes poorly behaved children should not be permitted to serve at mass. They set a bad example for the rest of the congregation and are poisonous to the catechizing aspects of the liturgy. I am reminded of Archbishop Fulton Sheen who said, “If you don’t behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave.” The Church was more explicit about this 500 years ago.
“It
By Atom Heart Father on April 17th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
I’m as wowed by Susan Boyle as anyone, and I wish her continued success in the talent competition, but I’ve been bothered by thoughts similar to those that prompted Dennis Palumbo to ask, “What if Susan Boyle Couldn’t Sing?“
“The unspoken message of this whole episode is that, since Susan Boyle has a wonderful talent, we were wrong to judge her based on her looks and demeanor. Meaning what? That if she couldn’t sing so well, we were correct to judge her on that basis? That demeaning someone whose looks don’t match our impossible, media-reinforced standards of beauty is perfectly okay, unless some mitigating circumstance makes us re-think our opinion?”
Mr. Palumbo makes most of the points I would have made, and probably better than I would have made them. What I’d add is that one of the warped philosophies that support such prejudice is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism regards people as valuable insofar as they can produce and good or service useful to others. That includes entertainment.
Had Susan Boyle not sung well, the judges and audience would have continued to think poorly of her. Her “inner beauty” would be irrelevant because she would have failed to establish her worth. Unmarried, unemployed, unattractive, and untalented, she’d be of no use to them.
In truth, a person’s dignity is not derived from our social standing, our achievements, our wealth, our talents, or any other way society might consider us useful. Rather, it is not derived at all; it is inherent. Religious or not, few would argue against the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” or “Do not so to others what you would not have them do to you”. Necessary prerequisites for this rule to work, however, are that we must regard other human beings first and
By Atom Heart Father on April 13th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
At the Easter vigil, I realized something. While I believe what we wear to church matters and reflects the dignity and solemnity of the liturgy, my dress clothes aren’t the most important things I wear to worship. It’s not the nice shirt, pressed pants, or tie that completes my ensemble.
It’s baby drool. Nothing else quite as well expresses my identity as a husband and father trying to work out my salvation with fear and trembling and help my family serve the Lord.
Real men wear baby drool in church.
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