The answer to this question is hardly difficult to obtain . . .
You’re right . But there was considerably more at play in my mind than simply the webpage of some Sisters who are in a state of schism.
I’ll repeat it again, so no one gets the wrong impression :** You’re right Don Ruggero**. Plus, I think I probably owe you a fuller explanation - out of respect, because in the past, I seem to recall being a little bit critical in several of my replies to certain posts you’ve contributed . . .when I didn’t really need to be. So, for you Padre, here are the more complete dynamics which motivated the post, - error and all:
First off, I may have been , enrolled in the confraternity of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by a deacon. The deacon I mentioned in post # 3 is one of several deacons who I am very good friends with. I’ll refer to him as
Deacon S.
I’m going back about 20 years - in the vicinity of 1997. At that time, I also had a spiritual director who is a religious orders priest (not in schism - his Missionary Order is about 149 years old this year) - I’ll refer to him as
Père A.
So in the vicinity of 1997 ,
Deacon S (I have to use the word “purportedly” here) enrolled me in the brown scapular. It was a rush job. It was done at night, half in the dark, outside in the rain, in the unlit parking lot of a fast food restaurant.
Deacon S was working outside from the back of his van(to have enough light to read).
Deacon S and I had previously been in the fast food restaurant - where he was still urging me to become enrolled in the brown scapular , and I was still deliberating. He used the correct rite for blessing and enrollment (I think it was from the Handbook of Prayers - can’t say which edition or year offhand). But it was rushed, in several senses. I do remember that the rite in the book specified “priest”
A few weeks later on my next visit with
Père A for spiritual direction I told him about the enrollment in the brown scapular with
Deacon S, and at the same time voiced my reservations - both because it had been a rush job, and also because the rite had specified priest.
Zoom in a moment here on what is meant by “rush job” : Before the (purported) enrollment by
Deacon S, I was already wearing a blessed scapular medal.
Deacon S never missed a chance to suggest I become enrolled in the brown scapular - he probably saw it as encouragement , but as time went on, a fair amount of that encouragement turned into pressure.
The main obstacle which was holding me back from being enrolled in the brown scapular , is that I did not wish to wear the brown scapular only for the short interval of investiture and then remove it and continue to wear only the scapular medal once I had been enrolled - I wanted to wear the brown scapular . . . however I had gotten quite used to wearing the scapular medal instead - So I wasn’t sure if I could make the transition. That’s what I had been discussing with
Deacon S over a coffee in the fast food restaurant just prior to the “purported” enrollment.
As we walked out of the fast food outlet toward our vehicles in the parking lot, a light rain falling,
Deacon S called me over to his van, pulled out a scapular, some Holy Water, the Handbook of Prayers, said “Look, just do it !”, and proceeded to enroll me in the confraternity of the brown scapular. The rain started to fall faster, and
Deacon S started to reciprocate by speeding up the prayers : A “rush job”, on 2 counts -
- Rushing my consent
- Rushing the entire rite because of rain
So when I had met with
Père A after that evening I told him I felt as if my consent had been coerced during the “purported” enrollment, and also told him I was puzzled that the rite was referring to “the priest”, but that it had been a deacon celebrant - showing him the actual written rite used. I think the words I said to him were, “I don’t know if a deacon can enroll me in the scapular.”
Père A 's response was, “But do you
want to be enrolled in the brown scapular”? At that point I replied, unreservedly, that I did. So he proceeded to enroll me using that same rite.
And I’ve worn the brown scapular ever since. It only gets removed for showers.
I’m wondering if It is possible that, in the back of my mind, I misinterpreted *Père A’*s motivation for repeating the rite ? While he may have done it because he thought I was likely pushed into it by Deacon S before ever consenting , I may have misconstrued that as affirmation a deacon could not enroll a person in the brown scapular.
The rest kind of falls into place a little more easily afterwards - enter the wrong terms into the search engine (ie “only a priest can enroll . . . brown scapular”) and a site of a community in schism pops up . . and I end up thinking “it is uncertain whether a deacon may enroll someone in the brown scapular.”
FWIW Those were the mechanics of it Don Ruggero : Guilty - :doh2: . . .but with an explanation.
God bless you Padre. I wish you a very fruitful, peaceful and edifying Holy Week.
