Strange man in Satan shirt at Mass today

[John_Lazarus]

Hail Satan shirts are sold by Satan worshipers.

They are sold at T shirt stores as novelties.
There is one that mocks the Satan shirt and actually says Hail Santa.

Gotta watch out for them Santaists.

 

[marbleartist]

Once in daily Mass, a poorly dressed man walked into the sanctuary through the side door. In this parish, we had many homeless people who attended daily Mass and most of us knew them all by name. I noticed this particular man because I had never seen him before- he wasn’t one of the “regulars” and he appeared to be marginalized. He sat in the front pew, quietly. However, once the priest began to pray the prayers of the Eucharist, the man jumped up out of his seat, became very agitated, and yelled, “I see you, Jesus. I refuse to kneel before you!” He walked to the middle of the aisle, and then, almost against his will, began to kneel. As he went on his knees, he began to scream, “I can’t stop from kneeling! I don’t want to kneel before you. I refuse, but my knees are still bending to kneel.” It was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. All of us in daily Mass didn’t know what to do- and the priest couldn’t really stop his prayers of transubstantiation. One of the parishioners left the church and grabbed a policeman from the street. He came in and escorted the poor man out. When Mass ended, he was no where to be seen. My prayer is that he was taken on to the hospital for a psych evaluation. However, my feeling was that there was something demonic torturing the poor man. This was around 10 years ago in San Francisco- but I think about this poor soul often and keep him in my prayers.

 

[Elena321]

Elena, you wrote: “I wish other parishioners hadn’t supported the parishioner escorting the man out and had of stopped him.He’s possibly been rejected many times, so perceiving being rejected from Church could damage him so much. Doesn’t he belong a part of the Catholic Church and Community too?”

On this, I must respectfully disagree. The church community deserves to be kept safe from harm while they attend Mass. The man’s erratic behavior was threatening. Escorting him out was proper at the time. He was not thrown outside into the snow, nor was he scolded. He was simply and professionally escorted to the narthex at the back of the church and politely asked to please not disturb the liturgy that was taking place.No one treated the man with disrespect. The disturbed man was intent on causing a disruption, and that’s why he re-entered the church again. He had no intention of worshiping. But the miracle of it all was that the liturgy itself became a healing event, however fleeting it might have been in that poor man’s life.

I am sadly certain that the disturbed man has indeed been rejected in the past – his very behavior would be a reasonable cause for people to react in a negative way towards him. But we must be prudent in church. Some people can be extremely dangerous. We have children in attendance, the elderly, and the handicapped, and most people who have a high expectation that they will be safe. And they should have that expectation honored. The church should be the safest place on earth.

Hi.

I don’t see it that way because I thought Jesus said we were supposed to see Him in the most vulnerable and love them and help them.

I understand regarding safety and if the man started physically attacking people that would be different but he was just pointing at people & possibly acting “unusual”.
It’s not their faults,they have an illness.How do we expect people with severe Mental Illnesses to act in Church?“Normal”?But then they wouldn’t have an illness.

You mentioned the handicapped.The “disturbed” man is handicapped in a way too & we should view people like him through the same eyes as we view other handicapped in the Church.

You mentioned the elderly.There are elderly with Schizophrenia etc too.

I think that fear and indifference are a disease in our societies.

Perhaps I’m naive? But to me it seems that not accepting this man and loving him would be the antithesis of following Jesus.

I love the way the Pope responded to this boy.
This boy clearly has something wrong with him ( maybe autism?).The Pope could have " escorted him away" but instead he showed tenderness,compassion,acceptance,understanding and love.

 

[Elena321]

m.youtube.com/watch?v=hB-mpZc8rQM