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{"id":1207,"date":"2002-12-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-12-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/2002\/12\/04\/a-priest-keeps-his-collar\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T15:57:30","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T20:57:30","slug":"a-priest-keeps-his-collar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2002\/12\/a-priest-keeps-his-collar\/","title":{"rendered":"A priest keeps his collar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Father Mark Pearson can see trouble coming as he walks the sidewalks of Boston.<\/p>\n\n

He can see some faces harden after people make eye contact and then see his clerical collar. Some look away in disgust. A few men deliberately switch to a collision course. Pearson said one or two angry pedestrians have spat on him.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIf someone is upset, they may find a way to bump into you or give you a shove,\u201d he said. \u201cThen they say sometime like, \u2018Oh excuse me, FATHER. Hey, did you molest anybody today, FATHER.\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI try to just say something simple like, \u2018God bless you anyway, my friend.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n

Pearson is not a Roman Catholic priest, but other Bostonians don\u2019t know that. He is a veteran Anglican renewal leader who is now a canon theologian in a global body called the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Nevertheless, he still wears clerical clothing as he goes about his life and work. He also encourages other clergy in his church \u2014 many of whom are former evangelical or Pentecostal<\/a> pastors \u2014 to do the same.<\/p>\n\n

This latest round of Catholic sex-abuse scandals have caused Pearson to reflect on what it means to be visually labeled as a priest.<\/p>\n\n

The tensions in his hometown are unbelievable, he said. Ordinarily, Boston is the kind of place where police may call for priests to help break up fights. Now the mighty Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is considering filing for bankruptcy due to its mounting legal woes. And in the pews, devout Catholics are experiencing shock and grief. Others have crossed over into fury.<\/p>\n\n

Pearson tries to remember this when hit with an icy stare or a sharp elbow.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSome people are jerks,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now they\u2019re being a jerk about this. Next week they\u2019ll be a jerk about something else. But you never know when you are dealing with someone who is truly in spiritual pain, someone who has experienced abuse or who has a loved one who was abused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Innocent priests are in pain, too. They feel like they have targets pinned on their black jackets. Some priests \u2014 in Boston and elsewhere \u2014 have reportedly stopped wearing their distinctive clerical garb much of the time.<\/p>\n\n

Pearson is convinced this is a tragic loss, both for the priests and the communities they serve. A clerical collar is more than a symbol, he said. It is a sign that God is present in the gritty and numbing realities of daily life.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere are still many people who need to see someone is available and \u2018on duty\u2019 for them,\u201d wrote Pearson, in a Charismatic Episcopal Church newsletter. \u201cWhile the general mood \u2026 has changed, there are still people who come up to me for a word of comfort or for prayer.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll risk the abuse of some in order to be available to people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The Protestant pastor Pearson knew as a child always blended into a crowd, with his standardized \u201cbrown suit, white shirt and brown tie with blue blobs on it.\u201d This pastor was dressed for work, but only the members of his flock knew who he was.<\/p>\n\n

Wearing a clerical collar is different, for better and for worse.<\/p>\n\n

Some people are offended and some are encouraged. But everyone knows a priest is in their midst, said Pearson. It is sad that some Catholic priests are even considering leaving their clerical clothing at home. They are hiding from the needy.<\/p>\n\n

A few months ago, Pearson said he visited a \u201cvery Italian Catholic parish\u201d in Boston\u2019s north end. In the foyer, a troubled man rushed up and asked when was the next time for confessions. Pearson looked around and did not see a priest in the empty sanctuary. So he borrowed a confession booth.<\/p>\n\n

Afterwards, the parish priest approached \u2014 wearing a simple blue sports shirt \u2014 and thanked Pearson for hearing the man\u2019s confession.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThat troubled soul didn\u2019t know to approach this other priest, because he couldn\u2019t see that he was a priest,\u201d said Pearson. \u201cBut I was wearing a uniform that said, \u2018I am a priest. Approach me. That is what I am here for. Approach me.\u2019 That is what wearing that clerical collar is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"