Saturday, November 28, 1998

Priest helps put God in center ring

By JUDY TARJANYI

Toledo Blade

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Whether it's celebrating Mass in the center ring or baptizing a baby under the Big Top, the Rev. Richard Notter always finds a role to play in the circus.

The pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Toledo, Notter is one of about 36 ministers, priests and nuns who serve circus people around the country through the U.S. Catholic Conference's ministry to migrants and refugees.

Whenever the circus comes to town, Notter takes his cues from Sister Charlotte Hobelman, who has acted as a kind of ringmaster, dispatching pastoral workers to circuses since the early 1990s.

Sister Charlotte, who works for the USCC in Washington, said the Roman Catholic Church has been serving circus people in the United States since the 1940s when the Rev. Ed O'Sullivan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, became the first circus chaplain. The current national circus chaplain is the Rev. Jerry Hogan, also from Boston, who goes on the road about six months every year to see to the spiritual needs of circus people.

Notter found his part-time calling as a circus priest while serving among migrant farm workers in Ruskin, Fla., about six years ago. "I came into it, circus people would say, through the back door."

A Central American woman approached him at a Mass and said her daughter, who had just left with the circus, had been asked to be the godmother of a friend's baby. They would be in Tampa that weekend. Could he baptize the baby?

"It ended up I went with them that Saturday evening," Notter said. "They picked me up after the parish Mass and we attended the second half of the show ... After everything had closed down for the night and they had cleaned the elephant manure out of the center ring, we set up a table and had a very nice Mass and the baptism. I think just about everybody who worked in the circus came."

When word reached Sister Charlotte that Notter, who speaks Spanish, had baptized a circus baby, a new ministry was born for the Toledo priest.

Notter, whose parish is in a Hispanic area of Toledo, usually connects with circus performers and workers, many of whom are Spanish-speaking, when they come to the area.

"It's kind of a ministry of presence, and trying to be of help to them. Sometimes, it's counseling. They lead kind of hectic lives with the rapid pace of their activity ... A lot of it is just visiting and letting them know that the church cares about them."

Many also are happy that he is bilingual.

"There are a high number of Hispanics in the circus these days, not only performers but workers, and I'm one of the few priests who comes around who speaks Spanish," Notter said. "So they're very grateful when I appear and can converse in Spanish or have Mass in Spanish."

Jose "Pepe" Vital, 27, of Guadalajara, Mexico, performs in the Royal Hanneford Circus -- which has been visiting the area -- with his sister and cousin. He said he appreciates the church's presence in a demanding work environment that makes it hard to fulfill his religious obligations.

"Even going to Mass is difficult because the busiest day for us is Sunday. Sometimes we're working from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., so it's very hard for us to be completely faithful to the obligations of religion. I'm sure God understands. The faith is there."

Pope John Paul II has told circus people that the church understands as well. "I know well that yours is a hard, exacting and dangerous occupation," he has said. "... You know that in the work you do, the church is close to you."

The pope also has praised circus performers for offering people, especially children, "a serene and healthy pastime."

The U.S. Catholic Conference estimates that 40 percent of the 200,000 people engaged in circus and carnival work in the United States are Roman Catholic, but priests like Notter are there for anyone in need, regardless of church affiliation.

Notter said he has found a similarity between his ministry to circus people and migrant farm workers.

"They're people who live on the road, who really aren't at their permanent homes. Because of their work schedule and lifestyle they normally don't get to the local church, so they really appreciate it when church people reach out to them."

Vital said that is evident from the attention priests like Notter receive when they come to visit. "It's 'Father, come here!' Everybody is fighting to get him to come to their trailer."

Sister Charlotte said she believes circus people have the same needs as any other people do, but those are complicated by life on the road. If there is an illness with a family member back home, for example, it may be more difficult for them to get to the sick person's bedside.

A mobile lifestyle also means circus families may have trouble locating baptismal certificates and other documents. The church has tried to help by establishing a repository of sacramental records for circus people at St. Martha's Church in Sarasota, Fla., where many circus families spend the winter.

"Another special circumstance of their lifestyle," Sister Charlotte said, "is the possibility of injury, and it affects not only the person who may be injured but other people who work for the circus as well."

Notter said that despite their vagabond lifestyle, circus people tend to be family-oriented. "Most people have been in the circus all their lives and their families for many generations."

They also form a close community.

"One of the things you learn about circus people is most of them are connected somewhere. It's a very tight-knit world in some ways. They know each other. At the baptism I did in Tampa, people from three different circuses showed up."

Sister Charlotte said although the church ministers to circus people, their work is a ministry, too.

"They bring joy to our lives, but behind the joy and the incredible things they do are all the ordinary human needs that we all have, so when they say the show must go on, sometimes they're dealing with serious illness in their family or something, but they do continue the show."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)