Saturday, October 01, 2016

Your Excellency, what were you thinking?

Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky celebrated Mass in a barn near the stall of the famous racing horse, American Pharaoh. Ostensibly this Mass was supposed to be about Bishop John Manz's pastoral visit to farm workers but the gushing article is really about meeting the stallion. Some dear person is probably saying, "But Dymphna, Our Lord was born in a stable. Isn't this sweet?" No, it's not sweet. This was a cutesy stunt and I have some questions:  Do you honestly believe that the Catholic family that owns the stud farm doesn't allow their workers off the property? Is it common knowledge that farmhands are not allowed to set foot in town or inside the local mission or church?  Did the bishops say Mass at every farm they visited or was it just this one that houses one of the greatest race horses to ever live?
The bishops could have toured the barn and visited American Pharaoh without having Mass there. They could have celebrated in a tent outside or in the bunk house. They could have celebrated Mass at the home of the farm owners and invited the farmhands inside. Cute stunts like this disgusted untold numbers of people over the last 50 years and many of them left the Church for good.