The other day after my regular Saturday reflective Mass someone, an elderly gentleman, fellow Parishioner verbally assaulted me for obstructing his car in the parking lot. I'm sure you're thinking:
"It's no big deal. This is Lagos, everyone verbally assaults, berates and curses the ever living shit out of everyone - man, woman, child, no one is spared. It's a MF jungle."
But this was different. It was not only at church. It was IN church. I had just concluded confession and was walking to a pew to pray/meditate on my penance when he accosted me mid-kneel spewing his negativity in my face. I was utterly perplexed. In Church! Inside Church!! Is this acceptable? This type of behavior belongs outside on the street. So I can r equally espond. And bring my brand of crazy to the party!
As I left, befuddled, embarrassed and thoroughly shook, I wrote the Parish priest, Assistant Parish Priest, everyone - Y'all need to call your Parishioner to order. I needed that man to apologize for bringing his ghetto to church, a sanctuary, a place of peace for some of us who thirst for peace in this rambunctious hell-hole of a city. If there's one place people can act with some form of decorum, civility, like they got some sense, surely it is Church. I was so wrong.
After many talks, I soon realized that my need for a soothing apology, however flippant, was not to come from this man. It didn't help that this man is one of the elite 1% of the Parish society, and in a church that is predominantly comprised of the 1% folk, I fall into the minority. So really, why would he apologize to me? I should be happy him and his kin folk even let us come to worship there blocking their Benz's and G-Wagons with our ancient jalopies.
When it was clear to me that an apology or even a mediation talk was not imminent I soon lost interest in organized religion, of which the Catholic Church wears the crown. Some of that crown is worn for certain bad acts which I won't bother to get into right now. But still...I just froze...out of betrayal for every thing I held dear.
Not that I won't attend Mass anymore. It's the urge to sit there, meditate, pray, be and especially observe the sacrament of confession there, has disappeared specifically in that community. And before you think it was brought on by this one incident, it's an accumulation of events that were toppled over by this incident. It was a verbal acknowledgment of the reality that this church is made up of the 1% and I am not one of them. Even though Jesus represented the views of the poor, in this Church, not so much. Almost like a celebration of the ill-gotten wealth that is constantly paraded on display in this country. This got me thinking, if these folks are the Churches' key demographic, what room do they have to accommodate someone who is not affluent?
We live in a society that worships wealth. The 1% continually tower over the rest, creating situations of injustice and oppression. And the one place, you don't expect the 1% to win...is Church. But yet it does, so much so that it is flaunted, and by their failure to reprimand, even caution this rude act, it seemed as if it was lauded. Sometimes I just sit there watching them and think this must be intoxicating to them, do they not realize this is a place of worship not a get-together hall.
In the end, who won. The Battle of the Egos. They did. The 1%. The patriarchy. The misogynistic society. The Class Bully. They. Take your pick.
As I left, befuddled, embarrassed and thoroughly shook, I wrote the Parish priest, Assistant Parish Priest, everyone - Y'all need to call your Parishioner to order. I needed that man to apologize for bringing his ghetto to church, a sanctuary, a place of peace for some of us who thirst for peace in this rambunctious hell-hole of a city. If there's one place people can act with some form of decorum, civility, like they got some sense, surely it is Church. I was so wrong.
After many talks, I soon realized that my need for a soothing apology, however flippant, was not to come from this man. It didn't help that this man is one of the elite 1% of the Parish society, and in a church that is predominantly comprised of the 1% folk, I fall into the minority. So really, why would he apologize to me? I should be happy him and his kin folk even let us come to worship there blocking their Benz's and G-Wagons with our ancient jalopies.
When it was clear to me that an apology or even a mediation talk was not imminent I soon lost interest in organized religion, of which the Catholic Church wears the crown. Some of that crown is worn for certain bad acts which I won't bother to get into right now. But still...I just froze...out of betrayal for every thing I held dear.
Not that I won't attend Mass anymore. It's the urge to sit there, meditate, pray, be and especially observe the sacrament of confession there, has disappeared specifically in that community. And before you think it was brought on by this one incident, it's an accumulation of events that were toppled over by this incident. It was a verbal acknowledgment of the reality that this church is made up of the 1% and I am not one of them. Even though Jesus represented the views of the poor, in this Church, not so much. Almost like a celebration of the ill-gotten wealth that is constantly paraded on display in this country. This got me thinking, if these folks are the Churches' key demographic, what room do they have to accommodate someone who is not affluent?
We live in a society that worships wealth. The 1% continually tower over the rest, creating situations of injustice and oppression. And the one place, you don't expect the 1% to win...is Church. But yet it does, so much so that it is flaunted, and by their failure to reprimand, even caution this rude act, it seemed as if it was lauded. Sometimes I just sit there watching them and think this must be intoxicating to them, do they not realize this is a place of worship not a get-together hall.
In the end, who won. The Battle of the Egos. They did. The 1%. The patriarchy. The misogynistic society. The Class Bully. They. Take your pick.
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