A thought-provoking post from Tim, the Lapped Catholic the other day speculated on the question of lay ministry. He was taking up the suggestion of Fr Erich Richtsteig that we should reintroduce the ministry of Beadle:... a minor official in medieval and some Protestant churches. His badge of office was a good, long stick used to smack people misbehaving in church. Not only could he take care of the clappers, but also unrepentant cellphone users.This reminds me of a story from my elder sister's parish one Christmas Midnight Mass. Some local Jack-the-Lad had a bit too much lemonade and thought he would come along and disrupt the Catholic Mass. He encountered two of my nephews in the porch:
Austin (medical student) who was then in full training as a boxer. (He had to give it up when the consultant told him he couldn't do ward rounds with a black eye.)
Declan - a short, unassuming, mild-mannered sort of chap who happened to be in the British National Judo Squad, gave it up to study but was persuaded to join the team at Oxford, earning himself a blue. (He now teaches philosophy in Ohio.)
Awww! How was the poor guy to know? (They did help him back up onto his feet.) Shouldn't they have had had a sash or a badge or something. What about the Ministry of "Come back tomorrow when you've slept it off, Son"?
3 comments:
Most amusin' Father! How can I take up this vital ministry, is there a course which one can take?
I think the best thing would be to write to your Diocesan Ongoing Lay Ministry Formation Team to ask whether a course could be provided.
That's a great one Fr Tim and as a black-belt in karate myself I could empathise with the swift action that brought the offending lemonade intoxicated lad to his senses! Having thought about this more deeply I might respectfully suggest the following:
A couple of 6'6" 'Orthodox Catholic Heavies', you know with black suits, black roll-neck jumpers, tattoos of crosses on their calloused knuckles and dark glasses would stand facing the queue for Holy Communion during Mass. Before any potential communicant could approach the kneelers to receive Holy Communion, one of the heavies would gently ask 'when was you last in the Confessional mate'? Any dubious answers would leave the 'heavy' no option but to politely show the person to the door - of the Confessional of course!
Perhaps this sort of action would be a little bit extreme (tongue firmly in cheek) but wouldn't it be great if we could all do an examination of conscience a little more deeply day by day, month by month trying to form ourselves into better Catholics. We would soon find that our own reactivated and invigorated consciences would take over the 'heavy in dark glasses' role, and we would find greater joy in regular visits to the Confessional to receive the forgiveness and Grace that God so freely offers through His good and holy Priests in the Sacrament of Confession.
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