The Washington Post,
Metro Local News.
Monday, March 24, 1975, p. C-1.
Circus Troupe Performs for Palm Sunday
By Marjorie Hyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
A young woman in pink and gold spangled tights balanced herself on a weaving pole 20 feet above the high altar of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Georgetown yesterday.
A cheeky clown shouted encouragement to the priest; a sequined showgirl piled her cape of fluffy turquoise marabou on the altar as her part of the offertory.
While worshipers throughout Christendom celebrated Palm Sunday yesterday with more traditional commemorations of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Rev. James English of Holy Trinity enlisted the talent of nine circus performers to drive home a gospel lesson.
"Unless you become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." said Father English, paraphrasing the text from the Gospel according to Matthew.
In his brief homily that launched the parish's regular 9:30 a.m. family mass, Father English offered three reasons for enlisting performers from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus to help launch Holy Week, the most sacred season on the Christian calendar.
First, he said, "circus people always remind us that we should never get too impressed with ourselves."
Second,, he pointed out, just us Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing that his triumphal entry would be followed by his death, "circus people know that life is both hard and easy. Circus people know that all through life you are going to have to fall down and then get up again."
Third, he said, "this world doesn't really like the little child that lives in all of us and so we are forced to suppress and sometimes forget that child ...
"But whenever we go to the circus, that child grows and stretches and we remember that the Kingdom of God belongs only to children."
A congregation of more than 800, of whom at least a third were children, packed into the greystone church that bears on its front a proud bronze plaque marking it as a regular place of worship of the late John F. Kennedy.
Youngsters, charged with anticipation, squirmed impatiently in the pews and whined at their parents that they wouldn't be able to see when what they deemed the main event took place.
After Father English finished his homily, recorded music heralded the first act -- clowns in baggy pants, fright wigs and all.
Ron Seberini milked five minutes of laughs and applause out of the simple act of assembling a portable music stand.
His wife, Sandy, also a clown, brought equal expressions of delight with a comic juggling routine.
The 33-inch clown midget, Prince Paul, distinguishable from the children only by his white-face clown makeup, worked before delighted crowds in the side aisle.
Then it was time for the Knop troupe and its balance pole act. Almost casually, Kristina Knop climbed to the top of the l8-foot steel stem and balanced there as her three male cohorts on the ground passed it back and forth among them.
Her toes seemed almost to puncture the stained glass skylight above the altar as she did a headstand while the bottom of the pole was passed from forehead to shoulder to one upraised hand. She kept her quivering perch as the polebearers walked precariously up a ladder and as the ends of the ladder were hoisted to shoulder height.
Even the most restless of the children sat silent as Kristina balanced her body across the handlebar-like device at the top of the pole, her outstretched arms frozen in a swan dive pose.
The church rocked with applause as the Knop troupe took its bows, first to the congregation and then turning, they mice a deep obeisance toward the altar.
The performers retired to the back-of the church as Father English thanked them calling them "nine of the most wonderful people in the world."
"I'll go along with that!" called out Prince Paul to the delight of priest and parishioners.
The entire troupe returned as part of the offertory procession and at Father English's invitation joined ;him behind the altar.
After communion, Father English presented on behalf the congregation wooden crosses to each of the performers -- including Prince Paul who is Jewish
After mass the dazzled congregation gathered to meet the performers who flanked Father English on the church steps.
Asked if he had received any criticism of the unorthodox Palm Sunday service, Father English replied in the negative. "They loved it," he said.
Pope to give wizards a patron saint
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, APRIL 01, 2002 12:19:55 AM ]
BLESS YOU, Harry Potter. Thanks to Pope John Paul II, Harry will soon have a patron saint to turn to when spells threaten to go horribly wrong. The Pope is planning to name Saint Don Bosco, a 19th-century Italian priest with a passion for magic, as the patron saint of conjurers, magicians and wizards.
The idea is the brainchild of Father Silvio Mantelli, a bespectacled priest and magician who boasts the stage name Mago Sales and has devoured all of J K Rowlings Harry Potter books. He likes to celebrate mass wearing a clown's plastic red nose.
During a papal audience in January, Mantelli gave the Pope a magic wand from India. I asked whether he would be willing to name a patron saint for magicians and wizards and I suggested Don Bosco. The Pope told me this would be a way of spreading peace and wonder in the world, Mantelli said. A month later the Vatican wrote to him confirming that the Pope had given his seal of approval.
Don Bosco was born near Turin in 1815. As a child he watched visiting performers in his village piazza and developed an interest in magic from them. His repertoire included making rabbits disappear and finding coins in a loaf of bread.
Not all Catholic officials are convinced of the benefits of magic. Last December Father Gabriele Amorth, the church's best-known exorcist, said Harry Potter was inspired by the devil.
Mantelli has few doubts that the saint would watch over the fortunes of the young wizard. Harry is a force for good, theres no satanism in there at all, he said.
The books inspire me, although Potter’s is a world of fantasy. I have to use a trick or two in my line of work, but I cant perform miracles. (The Sunday Times)
There is NOTHING funny about it. It is sad beyond words...<>