Bring back the beadle: new regulations proposed by the Vatican show a church ever more consumed by minutiae

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 21, 2003 by Tim Unsworth

Geaney, an Augustinian and prolific author, used to say that liturgy tends to become paralyzed by rigid parish structures that haven't adapted to contemporary life. "Liturgy," he said, "may simply have to die and be reborn again from the life experiences and cultural demands of younger people." Parishes simply must be converted and live or else they will become museum pieces supported only by memories.

Maybe we should bring back the beadle. You will remember that he was a minor parish official in the English church. His job was to usher and to keep order in the church. Like most flunkies, he had a thimbleful of authority combined with a bucketful of arrogance. He often used a stick to awaken sleeping worshipers. (Years later, the title went to the seminarian who ranked second in class in the minor seminaries. It would be an ideal ministry for ambitious and conservative laity.)

Thank God, we still have some parishes that are frilled on Sundays. But too many others are growing dull and lifeless. Their charisms just aren't moving. Their liturgies are as dull as a glass of milk.

Jean and I now live a stripped-down religious life. We are there on Sundays. We are now the embodiment of Henry James' observation: "I've always expected the worst and it's always worse than I expected." We try to see the plus side of negative things, but lately, we've ceased to care about the future of the church, only about the people in it. Still, like Banquo's ghost, the spooky things keep coming back.

Ten years after Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae, he wrote that he blessed those who accepted his encyclical and that he blessed those who do not.

I hope that someone blesses me for this one.

Tim Unsworth writes from Chicago, where he awaits eternal fire. His e-mail address is unsworth@megsinet.net