The problem here is the traditionalist movement and the liberal movement. Both are rooted in the Middle Class and up. They portray what I call the Mormon Catholic image. The truth is that if you ask anyone who is not a diocesan priest, but a religious sister, brother or a regular priest, we can tell you that the majority of Catholics are grubby looking, don’t have much by way of clothing, usually belong to minorities who live on the fringes of society, because of their poverty, not because of their morals.
Those of us who minister and live among them are just as unwelcome in the typical middle class Catholic community as they are.
I had the opportunity to attend a funeral of a dear friend at an SSPX chapel. I arrived in a sweaty grey clerical shirt that had stain on it and a hole on the front, with my grey jeans, and my while tab in my pocket instead of in the slot of my clerical shirt. I was bluntly told, “Father, you’re not appropriately dressed.”
First of all, I have a heart condition, leukemia and diabetes. Secondly, I’m a Franciscan of Life. We own three sets of clothes: a habit, a grey pair of jeans and a grey clerical shirt, because grey is our color, and a pair of work jeans and a t-shirt. Other than that we have three sets of underwear that we wear one, have dry one and another is in the wash.
Secondly, we have only one car for 16 of us. We cannot afford another car. Since I am the superior general, I’m not allowed to use the car. The car is for those whom I serve. As the servant of the community, I must walk, hitchhike or take public transportation, if I have the money.
That day, I waited for a bus. It was 90 degree and no bus was coming. Fearing that I would be late and miss my friend’s funeral, I began to walk the five miles. The bus finally passed and I got on for all of two miles. I then had to walk three blocks to the church. By that time, I had angina, my sugar was going crazy and I was sweating like a pig. I took off the tab on my Roman collar and slipped it into my pocket, with the intention of putting it on when I reached the chapel; but I forgot to do so. Don’t forget my clerical shirt with the stains and the hole on the front. It’s previous owner was a cigar smoker.
That was the greeting I received at this very Mormon looking Catholic chapel. I apologized for my appearance and explained that I was a Franciscan Brother of Life. That did not impress the greeter at the door, neither did the fact that I arrived when the Gospel was being read.
Those of us who are poor are not always welcome in certain Catholic circles. Yet, we make up the majority of Catholics around the world. Right now the majority of Catholics are South Americans and Africans. There are not many wealthy people among them. Even in the USA, the tide is turning. The Hispanic and Caribbean immigrants are becoming the dominant Catholic group and they are very poor. They are rarely seen in suburbia.
Is this a heresy? I wouldn’t go that far. Does it have the potential to become heresy? It certainly doe. Any form of rejection of the poor is a rejection of Christ himself.
The majority of white anglo Catholics in the USA don’t see these Catholics in their parishes. These folks can’t live in these communities. They probably don’t see too many Franciscans, Missionaries of the Poor, Little Brothers of the Good Shepherd, Missionaries of Charity or Oblates of Mary Immaculate either. We don’t go into your parishes or communities. That’s not where God wants us to be. We live in different worlds
That’s the problem, that we live in different worlds. The liberal and traditionalist Catholics are predominantly middle class and higher. They are the ones who put out these images of the “clean cut Catholic”, not because they hate the poor, but because they have not lived in poverty.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
