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.
Circus mass ends Vatican jubilee
By David Willey in Rome
Pope John Paul II has presided over the last special event of the Catholic Church's Jubilee celebrations, with a mass devoted to the world of entertainment.
Actors, film directors, funfair workers, jugglers and circus and mime artists were among thousands of people attending the mass in St Peter's Square...