by Joseph Stoutzenberger
When I began the graduate program in English at Temple University, I took a course on medieval English literature. The professor was nearing retirement and perhaps nearing senility as well. He brought with him to class a cassette tape player and played classical music while he lectured for an hour and a half. “Lecture” is not an accurate description of what he did. Without pause, he talked in stream of consciousness style on whatever seemed to enter his mind. I remember he once said, “Church. The word derives from old English for circle, a circus, a three-ring circus.” I immediately started imagining the church as a circus, with clowns and acrobats, lion tamers and exotic animals. Because of their ornate robes and pointy hats, I of course thought of bishops as clowns. (Some bishops might embrace that association; I’m sure others would not be amused.) Clowns are not the center of attention; they’re not the stars of the show. They add levity to any setting and get people not to take themselves too seriously.
Christianity actually has a tradition of jesters or “holy fools,” especially in the Eastern tradition. However, Western Christianity also has its tradition of saints looked upon as clowns and fools. St. Benedict Labre comes to mind, who died a homeless beggar after being rejected by every religious order he applied to. St. Philip Neri, apostle of Rome, also was a great advocate of not taking oneself too seriously. When a man sought him out for confession and was overly scrupulous about his sins, Neri gave the man the penance of walking around Rome for a day with a live chicken in his hat. Of course, St. Francis of Assisi gained a great following built on foolishness. In his biography of Francis, G. K. Chesterton calls Francis and his early followers “les jongleurs de Dieu”—God’s jugglers, or God’s clowns. Apparently when early Franciscans unexpectedly ran into one another they burst out laughing at the apparent foolishness of the thoroughly counter-cultural life they had chosen to live.
In 1970 the Broadway musical “Godspel” portrayed Jesus as a clown who gathered a group of like-minded followers to spread joy in playful ways. Also in the 1970s, spiritual write Henri Nouwen wrote Clowning in Rome in which he describes clowns as peripheral figures who, through their humble, saintly lives, caused others to smile and to have hope. Around that same time began a movement called “clown ministry.” Youth ministers and other parish ministers would put on white-face and clown makeup and mingle among people in church settings, clowning around without saying a word, like a mime. Ken Feit was the greatest practitioner of clown ministry in Catholicism. He gave up his studies with the Jesuits and set out to live a life as one of “God’s fools.” He was to proper society what a jester was to the medieval courts of Europe. He playfully pointed out the folly of many “serious” endeavors and appealed to the simple wisdom found in quality children’s literature such as the “frog and toad” series. Unfortunately, his life was cut short when he was struck by a car while hitchhiking.
The classic Preston Sturgis movie “Sullivan’s Travels” makes a similar case for levity. Sullivan is a successful Hollywood director known for making fluff movies. He decides he wants to make a movie with a serious theme, one that exposes the suffering of the “common man.” He sets out on a journey to live with hobos and homeless people. He ends up in an oppressive work-camp prison where the men are treated to a movie night featuring cartoons and comedy. The men relish the break from their oppressive lives, and Sullivan decides to return to Hollywood to make comedies to poke fun at conventions and brighten people’s lives. The movie closes with the line: “There’s a lot to be said for making people laugh.”
The Greek word for church, ecclesia, means public gathering, a group of people who come together for a common purpose. Is that gathering of people more a circle or ladder-like? A circle implies equality. After Vatican Council II, directives for church architecture called for altars to be brought out from the wall so that all those present were to some degree gathered in a circle. New churches were built in circular or semi-circular designs, again emphasizing the equality and communality of the assembly. How is the church, the people of God, to live in this spirit of unity, seeing one another as equals, and joining together to do good? All members would do well to follow Nouwen’s advice and live humble, saintly lives, being a voice for hope and an impetus for others to smile, like toddlers are without even trying. We have seen much of arrogance in public life lately. A little humility would be a great antidote. Who are the “holy fools” on the periphery today who remind us not to take ourselves so seriously? Late-night talk show hosts? Life is serious business, of course; but doesn’t the world need a little lightheartedness now and then? It’s likely that we all agree on this point but find that too much time passes between moments of sheer playfulness. We would all do well to get in touch with our “inner clown” and join the circus, at least once in a while.
Joseph Stoutzenberger 