Saturday, September 20, 2008

Font of wisdom

The St. Al's building project of a few years back included a baptismal pool just inside the entrance to the "worship space". Such pools for baptism by immersion were all the rage way back then. (At St. Al's, I've been told, there was a miscalculation and a tall adult climbing in risks a concussion on the low ceiling. Perhaps that can be corrected after the project mortgage is paid off circa 2028.)

With our pastor declining to deal with an associate pastor from the current crop, see Time of Change, even more baptisms are done during Sunday Mass. Since the pool is near the entrance, it's behind us when we're seated at Mass. The attempted fix has been to set up a video camera and projector so we can watch the baptisms on the big screen.

The font location thus virtually defeats (or defeats virtually) any non-workload purpose of having baptisms at Mass, so our pastor, in the August 24, 2008 bulletin, tells of possible Baptismal Procedure changes ahead.
each family having a child baptized would take some water from the font and carry it in a pitcher into church during the entrance procession and pour the water into a suitable container in the front of church. This water from the font would be used for the baptisms. By doing this we would incorporate the font into the baptisms while still enabling family and congregation to view the baptisms directly.

Watch for the next generation of liturgical consultants to tell us it's essential to build a Baptistry.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:57 AM

    This kind of crap is still going on with "liturgical consultants" who design (and collect large fees for designing) "improved" "worship spaces." Would that one could sue a consultant for incompetence. That, however, might mean naming the pastor in the action as well, since he signed off on the project. With great enthusiasm for the possibilities of increasing vibrancy and Spirit-filled-ness, no doubt.

    They're all just so damned mediocre...

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  2. Anonymous12:00 PM

    Watch for the next generation of liturgical consultants to tell us it's essential to build a Baptistry.

    A Baptistry? Hands down better than most of the stunted lap pools we're stuck with now.

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  3. "That, however, might mean naming the pastor in the action as well, since he signed off on the project."

    We parishioners will be deemed co-opted by a parish council consensus. At our parish, at least, pre-empting "I told you so" is one of the council's essential functions. That the building project was then "in the air" was one of many reasons I declined serving a second term on the council.

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