Fascinating article by a writer who wore a priestly cassock for a day in a large US city

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His cassock should have 33 buttons (not 20) – once for each year of Jesus Christ’s Earthy existence.
 
Actor Alec Guinness discovered the power of the cassock when he went walking down the street in one. He was filming a movie. His experience in the cassock led him to become Catholic:
He was in France working on the film “Father Brown”, based on G. K. Chesterton’s well known fictional crime-solving priest. He was playing the title role and so was dressed up as a Catholic priest. While walking down the street in priestly attire, a local child spotted him and mistook him to be a genuine Catholic priest. The child ran up, grabbed his hand trustingly, and walked with him down the road.

The trust and affection the child had for Catholic priests had a deep impact on him and made him start to seriously consider Catholicism. He later explained:

“Continuing my walk, I reflected that a Church that could inspire such confidence in a child, making priests, even when unknown, so easily approachable, could not be as scheming or as creepy as so often made out. I began to shake off my long-taught, long-absorbed prejudices.”

Soon after, his son Matthew contracted polio and appeared to be close to death. Desperate and seeking divine help, Guinness started dropping by a local Catholic church to pray.

He made a deal with God: if God healed Matthew, he would allow his son to become Catholic if he wanted. Against all expectations, his son recovered. So Guinness and his wife enrolled him in a Jesuit school. A few years later, Guinness, his wife, and his son all converted to Catholicism.

Guinness remained a faithful Catholic the rest of his life until he died in 2000.
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Great story, thank you. I saw Sir Alec in church before in the 1990s.
 
The comment about touching a priest’s hands is fascinating to me. I have had a number of women over the years touch one or both of my hands in the sacristy – until they found out I wasn’t a priest of course.
 
That was a great read! Thanks for sharing. 😀

It’s amazing how some clothing articles / uniforms evoke certain mannerisms from the public, unasked and unprovoked.
 
LittleFlower said:
It’s amazing how some clothing articles / uniforms evoke certain mannerisms from the public, unasked and unprovoked.
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Underneath it all, Chicago is a HIGHLY Catholic city. It would be fascinating to know how people would react if he wore the cassock in places like Houston, Atlanta and perhaps Boston or NYC…
 
On the flip side of the coin, Fr. John Corapi used to tell about mothers who would grab their children and remove them from his immediate presence after seeing that he was a priest. Some things have changed, and not for the better :cry:

D
 
DaveBj said:
On the flip side of the coin, Fr. John Corapi used to tell about mothers who would grab their children and remove them from his immediate presence after seeing that he was a priest. Some things have changed, and not for the better
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Given the large number of lies Corapi told, I don’t believe him about this either.
 
Duesenberg said:
Given the large number of lies Corapi told, I don’t believe him about this either.
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Given that the time he was talking about was right in the middle of the priestly child sexual abuse scandal, I do believe him.

D
 
DaveBj said:
Given that the time he was talking about was right in the middle of the priestly child sexual abuse scandal, I do believe him.
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Given his lies relating to his military service, his supposed homelessness and past Hollywood lifestyle, I wouldn’t trust his comments on any sensational topic, including this.
 
Duesenberg said:
Given his lies relating to his military service, his supposed homelessness and past Hollywood lifestyle, I wouldn’t trust his comments on any sensational topic, including this.
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As you wish. Padding for 16 characters

D
 
I don’t. What he did was far, far different than dressing up for Halloween. He never lied and said he was a priest and his efforts helped him write a very interesting story. I would however say that while wearing the cassock, he should have been on his absolute best behavior – including not drinking boilermakers in public at 10:30 in the morning.
 
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Not really, no. He could be Orthodox (as some thought), Anglican or perhaps another Mainline Protestant minister.
 
People jump to conclusions all the time. One Saturday while on my way to a professional baseball game I wanted to stop a long the way to visit a rather famous Greek Orthodox cathedral. I tried to enter wearing baseball fan gear (including shorts) and was politely turned away. No problem I was traveling and had more clothes with me.

In the corner of the parking lot I put on a black guayabera (untucked Cuban/Mexican shirt), black Dockers and solid black New Balance sneakers – my typical “Sunday garb” when traveling. When I returned to the entrance of the cathedral, I was asked for a half-dozen blessings (“father bless”) from others until I was ushered inside of the building. This continued as I walked around inside. I finally had to leave.

It was the peoples’ perceptions in that cathedral that made them mistake me for a priest, and not the garb I wore.
 
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I think the author did for good reason.

I’m not sure what constitutes “clerical clothes”? In a cathedral in a large city a black guayabera and black khakis obviously did, much to my amusement.

In some cases the “entry” to being a Protestant (or other) minister/pastor is really nothing. What do you say to those?
 
Let’s say someone is a Protestant Christian. There’s absolutely nothing that would keep them from legitimately saying “I have just formed a church and I’m its proto-pastor. After breakfast I’m going to buy myself a cassock and Roman collar.”
 
Yet it’s still OK for Protestant ministers to wear “priestly” garb even thought they are not Catholic priests as you noted above? Keep in mind the clerical collar is an invention of Protestantism, not Catholicism.
 
Duesenberg said:
Underneath it all, Chicago is a HIGHLY Catholic city. It would be fascinating to know how people would react if he wore the cassock in places like Houston, Atlanta and perhaps Boston or NYC…
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Boston is also heavily Catholic, as is Philadelphia and at least parts of NYC, so he would probably get a lot of respect in those places as well. I don’t know how things are in Houston or Atlanta, although “Mattress Mack” seems to have spread a lot of Catholic goodwill in Houston lately.
 
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