Catholic Ragemonkey

A Point of Clarification

Concerning my last post entitled "In Persona Krusty," I want to make a clarification. That post was not and is not an attack on Fr. H. I have nothing but esteem for him and for his work as a brother priest. I am criticizing whatever it is in our current eccelsiological climate that thinking that putting priests into dunk tanks and other things of the like is appropriate. Furthermore, this is not an attack on the people of Kingfisher. Granted it was there that these thoughts reached the culmination, I have seen this sort of posture presented elsewhere enough that it has been on my mind for years.

On a more practical note, I would like my readers to consider something with me. Let's just say, that for sake of example, I get sent to some parish, St. Wilemina's in Upper Lowerton, OK, where this sort of thing is expected and occurs regularly. The head of the committee comes in and says, "When can I schedule you for the dunk tank, Father?" My response, "I don't participate in things like that." The response back, "Well, Fr. Luetefisk did it. Why don't you?" My reply is "Because I think it is the beneath the dignity of an ordained priest to do such things." Now at this point the argument either ends or it gets heated. But if Fr. Luetefisk hadn't done this, I wouldn't be having this conversation at all. Priests have to be careful with all sorts of novelty in their lives, mainly because when a new pastor shows us, parishioners, rightly or wrongly, assume that they will do the same things. When that happens, it creates tension and confusion unnecessarily.

So there you have it. You can disagree with me, but please stop saying this is some sort of attack on Fr. H. He and I already discussed this in some detail. If he wants, he can tell you about the conversation -- my brain is too low on caffiene to recall.