By Phillip Grothus
Through my years of attending Mass, I have seen priests come and go, each leaving their mark on the Church. I recall one priest using his homily to instruct us students on how we were to enter Mass reverently after the tabernacle had been moved to a side chapel. As an adult, I later witnessed the tabernacle moved closer to its original location. At St. Malachy’s, I have seen Mass times change, a bell installed to signify the start of Mass, and the first pew rails cut to allow servers to sit among the congregation. Each change affected me differently, depending on where I was in my faith journey. One change, however, affected me more deeply than the others: the removal of the baptismal bowl.
I remember watching our priest walk out of the church carrying the parish baptismal bowl. I asked about it and was told that a smaller one would replace it because the current bowl was too large. I was shocked. My children had been baptized in that bowl, and I personally knew the pastor who had commissioned it. When the priest offered it to me, I accepted—not because I wanted to keep it, but because I didn’t want it to be lost. The bowl stayed under my bed for several years “for safekeeping,” until I was eventually asked to return it so it could be placed back in the church with a proper stand. I was excited that it would be restored to its rightful place.
I would love to say it is back, but it now sits in the church garage. I don’t know what the plan is for it, but after weeks of wanting to “rescue” it, I finally heard God’s voice: it’s just a bowl. I had become so focused on my personal attachment to one small part of the church that I missed the main reason we gather for Mass—the Eucharist. I sit here, proud to announce that I am no longer chained to a bowl, changing of church pews, the installation of bells, or any other alterations that may come to the church. I am focused on the Altar and what happens there every time Mass is celebrated.