You might be interested to know some of the follow-up to the new server albs we acquired earlier this summer. My friend Mike at the local Catholic church goods store, I. Donnelly, said his daughter fielded a call from an insistent anonymous parishioner not long after we ordered the albs and cassocks.
How many were ordered?
Were we given a price break?
What was the final bill?
The caller was referred to me or our parish staff for the third question. I told Mike no such inquiry has come my way. I did what I often do with such stories: I’ve told it to many staff members and a handful of parishioners. The fervor of anonymity often wilts in the public eye.
It’s been worth a few laughs, especially when one person asked me rather knowingly, if it wasn’t a particular parishioner she had in mind. I said no, I’m trying to have positive thoughts about the person in question.
I really have no idea who this could be. But such people are not uncommon elements in a parish populace. Were they upset about the expenditure? I have a budget, finance committee approved, that includes this line item. We also have a parishioner who donated some of the cost. Were they upset about the traditional style? I wrote in the bulletin this week, “The kids were enthusiastic about having a different look … They articulated their choices well. I feel it’s important to back up their choices. That’s the whole story. No mandate from above, no desire to ‘turn the clock back’ on Vatican II.”
