Lipstick Liturgy

Here in our humble parish community, the pastor has appointed five extraordinary ministers of the Word—three women and two men. When the priest is absent—considering how he tends to various other tasks in the diocese and to another distant community ever since the local priest has fallen ill—it is up to us, the ministers, to act as moderators of the celebrations and conduct the reflections on the Gospel.

The other day, as I was putting on a tunic specific for ministers, I noticed a small lipstick stain on the collar. The first thought that occurred to me was that it must be a certain “novelty,” granted by the Second Vatican Council: permitting the presence of women in supplementary ministries overseen by ordained ministers.

In fact, the new Code of Canon Law, 1983, reformed after Vatican II, was referenced to by John Paul II in his Encyclical on the “Vocation and mission of laypersons in the Church and in the world.” Laici Christi fideles: Canon law permits that “Where the needs of the Church require and ministers are not available, lay people, even though they are not lectors or acolytes, can supply certain of their functions, that is, exercise the ministry of the word, preside over liturgical prayers, confer baptism and distribute Holy Communion” – Ch. 23.

Naturally, we continue as laymen. As the same encyclical warns us, “What constitutes the ministry is not the task, but the sacramental ordination. Only the Sacrament of Orders gives the ordained minister a particular participation in the office of Christ, the Shepherd and Head in his Eternal Priesthood.”

It is also true that the faithful prefer the actual presence of the priest. The elderly especially experience some difficulty in the face of laymen ministers overseeing the celebrations, despite the fact that we present ourselves merely as extensions of a supplementary nature, at the service of the very ministry of the priest.

Getting back to the lipstick stain, the collar really is quite constricted, which justifies the red marks… Pope John Paul II spoke to the church about the “presence and collaboration of men and women,” Ch. 52, lamenting the “overly weak presence of men.” I think it is appropriate to quote in full what he wrote:

“The fundamental reason that requires and explains the presence and the collaboration of both men and women is not only, […] the major source of meaning and efficacy in the pastoral action of the Church, nor even less is it the simple sociological fact of sharing a life together as human beings, which is natural for man and woman. It is, rather, the original plan of the Creator who from the “beginning” willed the human being to be a ‘unity of the two,’ and willed man and woman to be the prime community of persons, source of every other community, and, at the same time, to be a ‘sign’ of that interpersonal communion of love which constitutes the mystical, intimate life of God, One in Three.”

If ever red lipstick spots show up again on the collars of our tunics, I will continue giving thanks to God for the precious feminine presence in our communities.

Furthermore, I do not recall ever hearing any complaints when the robes used to be jotted with ash marks and the typical aroma of pipes and cigarettes. Let’s not get sexist now…