Father Jerry Hogan, circus chaplain, smiles after blessing people with holy water at Easter Mass for circus workers April 16 at the DCU Center arena in Worcester, Mass. (CNS photo/Tanya Connor, The Catholic Free Press)
By Tanya Connor Catholic News Service
WORCESTER, Mass. — The congregation, numbering about 50, gathered for their last Easter Mass together on the DCU Center’s arena floor.
The chaplain, Father George “Jerry” Hogan, borrowed one of their colorful boxes to use as an altar. The altar cloths and his chasuble sported circus images. Costume designers had sewn pieces of old elephant blankets together to make his stole.
The backdrop suggested the reason for such an unusual liturgical environment: The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus had come to town to offer shows on Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.
But it isn’t all “fun and games” for performers and other circus workers, some of whom attended the Mass before the Easter shows. While “they’ve always performed during Holy Week,” they are now going through the paschal mystery themselves, Father Hogan told The Catholic Free Press, newspaper of the Diocese of Worcester.
The Ringling circus was nearing the end of its 145-year run and the workers, including frontline performers, were in a quandary about their future. They learned Jan. 14 that the circus was closing.
Father Hogan, who has been national circus chaplain for 24 years, appointed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, recalled the anguish of the workers when they learned of the show’s fate just hours after he celebrated Mass for them in Orlando, Florida, where they were performing.
His cellphone “went wild” at his winter home in Sarasota, Florida, where he ministers at St. Martha Parish, the national circus church, as shocked circus workers called him with the news they received: “We’re closing.” The 145th edition of “The Greatest Show on Earth” would be its last.
Over the years, the priest of the Boston Archdiocese has dealt with five circus tragedies, three of which included fatalities, he said, but this was different.
“First of all, you’ve got to deal with your own feeling, because you become numb,” he said. Then you have to look past that to what God is calling you to do. It’s more than hearing; it’s listening, being physically present.”
