Our Lady of the Laundry Room Taking A Break

[westyslantfront]

For many years, first with my home parish (Episcopal) in New York, then Palm Desert, CA, and now Tucson, Az, I have been active. I am an acolyte (altar boy) swinging the incense and also a member of the Altar Guild. My job was to wash and iron communion linens and vestments.

After two years at St. Michaels in Tucson, for all the nice people, there were too many arrogant, opinionated, nasty people
so I am moving over to another parish.

Aside from the complaints about incense, which it is up to the priest, not me, people complained of how I washed the vestments (gowns)
Some people did not like that I used Viva because it has phosphates (sure did a great job on stain removal). They said they were an "eco friendly" parish.
Another complaint was that I used fabric softener which I felt added a nice scent to the vestments.
Oh well, I guess they are on their own now and can wash their vestments any way they like.
I will not get active at new parish for a while so I can settle in.
At my old parish in Palm Desert, the Altar Guild always sends me Christmas and Easter cards signed by all the members saying how much they miss me doing the laundry.

Ross

 

[nurdlinger]

too many arrogant, opinionated, nasty people

I am sorry to hear this, Ross. I remember that you got a great deal of personal fulfillment and satisfaction from that work.

Do they still have the "It's a Sin to Build a Nuclear Weapon" posters displayed on Wilmot Rd.?

Tom

 

[brettsomers]

phosphates? who cares! but the softener, some people might consider perfume imposing. sorry about the rude people.

 

[chestermikeuk]

You Cant Please Everyone...

Hi Ross

Sorry to hear about your predicament, I know how passionate you where about your work and the care and attention you took with the "Washing of the Vestments" from all those wonderful stories you told me at the last convention....

I know how much work is needed as Mum was a Housekeeper in a large Parish and her duties where having the to launder all the vestments & Alter Cloths as well...my job was the Rotary Ironing...LOL

All the best with your new Parish...

Mike

 

[gansky1]

Wow - it sounds like some people still think men can't do laundry! In the church I grew up in, they would have been elated that someone, anyone would volunteer to wash anything!

Best of luck in your new parish, Ross.

 

[westyslantfront]

Brett...thank you for your vote of confidence.....

Mike....yes it is a big job and i look forward to resuming my work in a new parish after getting a break from it

Greg....originally, at my home parish in NY, the women resisted my joining the altar guild till my mom who was active and taught sunday school cornered the head of the altar guild and said......my goodness, we can have women priests, we can certainly have men on the altar guild....my mom also said that i washed and ironed my dad's dress shirts and did a better job than she did...once i started on the altar guild, all the ladies were thrilled to be relieved of doing the laundry....

yes, i am looking forward to a break, then resuming my work in a new parish.....

best wishes to everyone for a great thanksgiving....

 

[appnut]

Ross sorry to hear they wre so unappreciative to you. I know how much you loved doing it. Enjoy the rest you will have. I hope ou will find a parish that will make you feel great about going and welcome you with open arms.

 

[polkanut]

Ross, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Missouri Synod Luhteran, and I just joined the Altar Guild at our church recently. Talk about creating a STINK! Luckily my Mom is a charter member, and my wife and sister are also members. I think that the one lady who objected is afraid of having her "power" usurped. I'll let you know how it all plays out.

 

[captainmoody]

Hi Ross, sorry to hear about that as well. Your talents will be appreciated elsewhere!
BTW, I am from Tucson originally, and went to Fenster ranch school. Are they still around?

 

[nurdlinger]

Appears so...

the "ranch" part seems de-emphasized, though.

Welcome to nginx!

 

[westyslantfront]

Bob....thank you for your support...I am looking forward to new parish....

Tim....my adopted mother is LCMS....she calls it Lutheran Church Misery Synod. I said to her that I guess Missouri loves company. Back at my home parish, All Saints Episcopal, Bayside, NY, people were very careful with my family when my mom was alive....she knew how to zap it to anyone who was out of line. My mom taught Sunday school and was great with quoting scripture. When I started at St. Michaels, they had 6 people trained for incense. With my departure, there is only one left plus lady in charge of acolytes. They don't like to let kids do it as they might get burned. I think I may have found new parish, Christ The King.

Dwight...hope you come back to Tucson to visit once in a while.
We are doing wash in March 23, 24, and 25 here in Tucson. Otherwise, anytime you come in to town, please feel free to call me at 520 299 2135 and you can see my machines. Thank you for your support.

 

[toggleswitch]

Our Lady of the Laundry Room.. eligible for sainthood?

I went to my first Episcopal service a few weeks ago in Connecticut and enjoyed the friendliness and comraderie and open welcome. So many people knew, and were friends of, Dorothy!

Ross, I think I see what you got out of such a lovely denomination. But alas the personalites, the egos and the politics can kill the high. Not to mention a potentially nudnick big-mouthed selfish priest/minister.

My own chuch was a small "country" church in Whitestone where everyone knew everyone else and we all felt very connected and protected. I was an acolyte (from Akolouthos=> follower), an "ordained" certificate-bearing church-reader, a Sunday school teacher etc. But it took my father as president of the chuch-council to hear all the politics and BS that takes place. QUITE a turn-off!

I feel for you and regret that someone ripped the good feelings out from under you in your association with that parish. May your new parish be all you hope it to be.

And please, by all means, DO feel free to share links with your fellow parisioners to websites that carry muzzles. Distribute as appropriate.

IMHO, the hardest lesson to learn in Christianity is this one: Suppression and elimination of the ego is key. Too bad your fellow parisioiners are there to ostensibly be on a spiritual journey and have forgotten this very key element.

Again, better days are just ahead. G-d is with us all, always. May (s)he be with you just a little more in your time of need and in your continued healing, and for all you have had to endure, both for recent events and the much larger ones in your past.

Peace and love,
Steve

 

[oxydolfan1]

Interesting....

I was actually baptized in an Episcopal church in Flatbush but promptly sent off to Catholic school, as the public schools were pretty bad and that was the only alternative at the time...

Somewhere along the line I was vortexed into the maelstrom and signed up to be a "Papist"...

Toggle, Episcopal services (in the New York area, anyway) are very warm and inclusive....and I totally recommend a stop to all NYC visitors to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, which is an amazing space that they actually USE for concerts and the like.

One of the greatest things I ever saw there was "Blessing of The Animals"....lots of fun.

 

[maytagbear]

Oh, Ross-

Very sorry about the "turkeys" in your current/former parish.

However, they are in almost every congregation.

For now, I have decided to stay put in my congregation (United Church of Christ-Kent).

We are in the process of starting the search for a new Senior Minister, and it may get nasty. There's a long, rather unpleasant recent history around the last two Senior Ministers. I really loved our most recent Senior minister and his wife. They are now far far away from Ohio.

All of this is making me re-evaluate my role in the church and the church's role in my life, and that's where it should be.

I hope you have the Spirit in your new parish, and much growth and happiness.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[panthera]

some folks, especially women,

Just plain resent a man doing "their" work as well or better than they can. My best friend got married last year. Until then, he and I had cooked together in the kitchen, fed his kids then enjoyed cleaning up afterwards.
The first thing his wife did was to ban me from the kitchen.
Just making my "rôle" clear.
I can live with it.
As for the complainers - even if you did everything the way they wanted it, they would still bitch. In any group there will always be a few folks like that.
I think you did the right thing - take a break. Cut the drama in your life to a minimum.

 

[westyslantfront]

Hi Steve, Yes, havn't you heard of St. Julie? She should the patron saint of people who do laundry. Many Greek words....Episkopos means "rule by bishops". I am just as guilty as the next person in sometimes forgetting why I am at Mass. At St Michaels, I felt, too many people forgot to leave their arrogance, attitude, and egos outside. They also forgot to leave their politics outside too...separation of church and state....I also wonder if my work at St Michaels was completed and God is now sending me elsewhere because He has work for me there.

Hi Oxydol....were you baptized at St Pauls in Flatbush??...big parish...many of our parishes to blessing of animals for the feast of St Francis in early October....I went to All Saints Episcopal, Bayside, NY.....a wonderful place with a wonderful congregation who I miss and in recent years, wonderful clergy....the priest who buried my parents (he is now retired) gave my parents excellent pastoral care when they were dying...always visiting them in the hospital....a large part of the congregation attended their requiem masses when they died...
maytagbear.....i sent you separate email....
Hi Keven...yes, I agree with you that it is time to take a break but the time will come when I miss my ministry of doing church laundry and will look forward to returning...as I stated earlier, people need to leave their attitudes, egos, etc. outside the church door before they enter...I am looking forward to my new parish, Christ The King here in Tucson...

Ross

 

[oxydolfan1]

Ross.....yep, St. Paul's on Church Avenue and St. Paul's Place.

I spent a lot of time in northeast Queens growing up and had a lot of fun (I had relatives in the Murray Hill section)....

I wish you many blessings in your new church home. The best way to do it is with little fanfare, and remember to be cool about speaking ill of your old parish, at least initially. I always thought I owed total strangers EXPLANATIONS as to why I made the choices I did, but eventually came to realize I was just trying to resolve old differences instead of moving on to new, better experiences!

I don't get the sense you'd make such a decision to make a move unless God had laid it onto your heart pretty strongly.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!