Posted on 01/06/2014 2:04:33 AM PST by GonzoII
Cassock with scapular and big stick
Today on the way home from Mass I stopped at Krispy Kreme for a dozen donuts. I’m wearing my cassock and Benedictine scapular. Here’s what happened.
First guy I see is about thirty. Hospital scrubs. He says, “What church are you?”
“Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church.”
“I’m the son of two Lutheran pastors.”
“I can help you with that if you like…”
Laughs. ” I really like the new pope.”
“Me too. What do you do. Doctor, Nurse?”
“Nurse. In the cardiac unit at St Francis.”
“I was just there last week to anoint an old fellow. After the anointing he said, ‘Father, it’s so beautiful!’ I asked what he was seeing. He said, ‘Christ the King!’ Then closed his eyes.”
Thinks it through. Orders his coffee. “Thanks for sharing that!”
I start to order my donuts. The girl says the Lutheran paid for them. Nice.
Another guy comes through the door. “What religion are you?”
“Catholic. Catholic priest.”
“You look real sharp in that outfit.”
“Thanks. Where do you go to church?”
“Greenville Christian Fellowship. I used to be Catholic.”
“That means you’re still Catholic. You should come to Our Lady of the Rosary sometime.”
“Maybe I’ll do that.”
Older woman about sixty comes through the door. She looks like an Italian grandma. I’m still picking out my donuts.
“I can’t think the last time I saw a priest in public.”
“Most of them don’t wear the cassock anymore.”
“That’s a shame. I was brought up Catholic. What parish are you father?”
“Our Lady of the Rosary.”
“Where’s that”
“At the junction of I-85 and Augusta Road, but you can’t tell it’s a Catholic parish because we don’t have a church that looks Catholic. It’s just a warehouse.”
“What a shame.”
“But we’re doing something about that. We’re building a beautiful new church that will look like a Catholic Church!”
“Wonderful! I’ve come back to the church because of the new pope. That other church (names one in town) what were they thinking when they built that? It looks terrible.”
“I can’t disagree with you. But we’re building a beautiful church. Do you have a million dollars? We need more money.”
“I can hardly afford the donuts father!”
“OK. You come see us sometime.”
I love being a priest, and wearing the cassock always sparks good conversations. So many people want to love the church. They want to love Christ. They want a priest to be a priest and set a good example. We need to work with all the good spirit that is out there, and forget about the negativities.
My choice was a cup of coffee, a sour cream donut and a Boston cream donut and I’ll start my diet tomorrow. I mean, if you can’t celebrate Epiphany with a visit to Krispy Kreme what’s the world coming to? Next thing you know they’ll be abolishing Monsignors…
I loved it when priests wore cassocks and nuns wore their robes. I’m not catholic, but it always mad you stop and think about God.
Wow, a priest who loves Krispy Kreme donuts!
Good article.
I am not kidding; by the title I thought this was an article about someone taking the Gospel to Chris Christie.
God bless!
I'm guessing he hasn't been told about the requisite paperwork:
"Roman Catholics, the largest U.S. church with a reported 69 million members, start counting baptized infants as members and often don’t remove people until they die. Most membership surveys don’t actually count who’s in the pews on Sunday. To be disenrolled, Catholics must write a bishop to ask that their baptisms be revoked..."Related threads:
....it is possible, for example, to be born Catholic, married Methodist, die Lutheran and still be listed as a member of the 1 billion-member Roman Catholic Church....
"...The Catholic understanding of membership is that a person becomes a member upon baptism and remains a member for life," Gautier said. "Whether you show up at church or not is not what determines whether you're a member."
-- from the thread When It Comes to Church Membership Numbers, the Devil's in the Details
"...The Catholic understanding of membership is that a person becomes a member upon baptism and remains a member for life,"
I agree with latter, and if the author claims to be quoting facts he's contradicting himself with the former. Let me give you and your sources the real facts.
1272 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.
Source: CCC
Is that part of the Apocrypha? ;0)
Or a restaurant menu...
I’m guessing he hasn’t been told about the requisite paperwork:
Well we have been as Christians and Catholics “wireless” for a over 2,000 years. :)
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