Don't send in the clowns

Military Masses do not have any of these things, although you'll often see camouflage chasubles for use in the field.

I'm thinking that the priests involved in the clown masses have Godspell WAY too often.

OK, let me make a few corrections here. First this was not a clown mass, this was a mass for circus performers at a church built for circus performers. If there was a mass for police officers and they all showed up in their uniform, no one would complain. However, this is a mass for circus performers who likewise showed up in their uniforms. Yes, I hear that one of the issues here is vestments, and you can address that matter with the associated ministries. Yet, these priests are there. That is a key issue. I will address the vestment issue in the last paragraph.

Many such performers are Catholic and they go city to city. Without the priests and religious in the ministry they would not get mass at many places and since there are so few who do minister to itinerants and those who do are active parish priests, many times the itinerants don't get mass. The performers' schedules are too tight for them to go to a parish and experience mass on every weekend or do not have the transportation, etc. to get there. This is what these chaplains are all about to celebrate mass for the itinerants as much as possible.

Meanwhile, non-denominational evangelicals are preaching Jesus and anti-Catholicism to such itinerants every weekend in the arenas and behind the scenes. In some cases they use these moments to attract fans and then later call them at home and minister to them OUT of the Catholic Church. Catholics are all going to Hell, don't you know. These non-denominationals are so strong that even the mainline protestants are not doing the ministry any more.

Maybe, Jeff, not only do you and some of your readers need more of the facts, maybe you might want to look to see if there is anyone who is pastorally caring for the Catholic itinerants when they are on the road in your city and those of your readers.

For your information, I preach to itinerants too, occasionally for the circus but mostly in another venue, yet my ability to do so is severely limited because I am the lone priest in a bilingual parish. This week, I had to get someone to cover my own mass so I can drive three hours to celebrate mass for those I serve in a nearby state and like most such chaplains, I finance this myself. The last time I made sure mass was celebrated for these men, they experienced mass for the first time in three weeks. But the non-denominationals held their bible studies in the meantime.

I have personally experienced everything I just described in this post and a lot more.

Finally, Why do the priests wear the vestments? Because the performers are so grateful to have mass, they give them to the priests as gifts.

Nobody is saying that it's not important to minister to circus performers, any more than Jeff -- a Navy veteran -- is advocating the discontinuation of the diocese of military chaplains. It's important work, stipulated.

The question here is whether the important work is being carried out in a fitting way.

It is good to know that the vestments were gifts from the itinerant circus parishioners, and one would hope that they are tasteful and beautiful. If they're not, it's probably no worse a failure to think/feel with the Church than any other parish has slipped into, and better than most. But it would be nice to have some picture to judge by.

Ditto the wagonwheels. It sounds weird, but it could be done nicely. Yet there are no pictures on the parish website. All we have to go by is the diocesan story, which rings certain bells in those of us scarred by the seventies.

The website does have historical pictures of the "circus church". In these pictures, the inside of the parish is solemn and plain, the vestments are normal, and all the circus activities are found outside the church proper. You cannot distinguish the circus parishioners from the non-circus ones while they're in church, which seems more homey.

People hate to be made to stand out when they're at church, where everyone is supposed to be equal under the Lord. Making a show of someone is as much as to say, "This person doesn't belong but we're being nice and pretending he does." Treating someone like he belongs means letting him getting on with praying, just like everyone else.

Bravo, Fr. Carr. This is a matter for the parishioners, their pastor, and their bishop. It's, quite frankly, none of any blogger's business. It's about time we put a stop to the tendency of the blogosphere to criticize with impunity.

Fr. Carr.

I have a correction of my own.

I complained not about those attending, but the vestments worn. I see no reason to have a theme Mass and alter the vestments worn based on the people attending. This is not done for any other professions.

Fr. Carr makes a good point about the vestments. I remember in my first communion class we gave the Pastor a white chausable that we had all put our hand prints on in different colors of ink. In retrospect it was a really ugly vestment. But, our priest still wore it.

Part of charity is allowing people to be charitable to you.

I understand that the Mass for the circus performers is one of a long standing tradition.
Certainly those Catholics in the Ringling Circus must be ministered to.

But the priest must always, always properly vest-no matter what the circumstances. (assuming he has vestments)

The second picture from Holy Name Parish--my aunt is in that parish! They have perpetual adoration. I am surprised at this display.

The St. Martha in Sarasota website shows that they have a daily Mass in Latin as well as one on Sunday, with daily confession available, too. I think I'd consider an occasional Mass for the circus if our parish could have just one Latin Mass per week and daily confession...

Robin

Equating the wearing of circus garb
to police uniforms as appropriate
attire at Mass is questionable.
The police wear uniforms, and the
circus personnel wear costumes.
One is dignified, the other intended
to entertain.

I wonder if there is a record of when the first 'priest in circus vestments' Mass was said. At a guess, I would say some time in the 1960s. As for the laity giving these inappropriate vestments to the priest I wouldn't consider them to be at fault. Faulty/no cetechisis on the Faith and the meaning of the Mass is to blame.

I have seen WWII and Vietnam War pictures of Mass on the battlefield and all of the priests were wearing orthodox vestments.

Another point - since when don't we capitalise the word Mass when we are referring to the Holy Sacrifice?

"It's about time we put a stop to the tendency of the blogosphere to criticize with impunity."

As Mark Steyn put it when a caller said bloggers need to be regulated: "I'm glad you weren't around in Thomas Paine's time."

As one Cajun deacon down here would say: "Slap y'alls selves silly and split the hair on your heads."

Please if you are going to do that, don't retire down here. Don't even think of living here. You are soooooooo sooooooo bored up north in the frozen tundra that this is the only thing you have time to do what you do.

Please make yourselves more useful the church and when you walk into church lighten up and see the Christ Jesus who loves you not loathes you smile and open His arms to you. He does the same to everyone else.

But you won't see that, you will beat y'all selves up before you see that -- and everyone else for that matter.

You're sooooooooo sooooooo holy.

Not! But eh, then neither am I we are a work in progress.

But you won't see that, you will beat y'all selves up before you see that -- and everyone else for that matter.

Where can I get this Magic 8-ball into the soul that you seem to possess?