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I went to visit a possible parish today...but I'll get to that in a moment. I have an axe to grind. I rode the Dundas streetcar to and from church this morning. When I got on to come home I grabbed a single seat, by the back door. As we trundled along, the car started filling up...there were still plenty of seats, only they were window seats and people were sitting on the aisle. Side Note: This is another annoyance for me. Yeah, we all like to get two seats to ourselves but NEWS FLASH this is Toronto. It's a big city, full of people, and 70 percent of those people ride the streetcar. Unless you are somehow physically unable to occupy just one seat (in which case, cheers and never mind) move over and let someone sit next to you. You want your space? Move to Barrie. Ahem. Where was I? Oh, yes. There were plenty of seats open but inaccessible unless someone moved their lazy... Ahem. So an elderly couple gets on. They're both walking with canes. They pay their fare and look for a seat. They pass row after row in which some jerk has plopped him or herself, unwilling to move so that the elderly couple, walking with canes can sit down. The people they passed, who stared back at their pleading faces with mute indifference, were mostly young and able bodied. There is no earthly reason why this couple should have reached the mid-rear of the car, but they did. I stood so that one of them, at least, could sit. The gentleman was very grateful, and his wife sat down. I then went up to a seat hog, one of the kids who had ignored the old couple, and asked to sit. He grudgingly moved, just enough for me to squeeze by. I wish I'd had a good fart stored up. I'm not claiming to be Mr. Hero to the Elderly, but where did common decency go? Where is our respect for our elders? How about common sense, if not decency? I can stand if I have to; my legs can take it. This couple looked as if a stiff breeze might blow them down. Why did nobody stand for them? As if to punctuate this appalling lack of manners, a few blocks later a young man with a serious deformity got on. His legs bent in the most unnatural manner and he clearly had difficulty keeping upright on the ground, let alone in a lurching streetcar. At this point I was sitting by the window, with someone next to me on the aisle. I was in a poor place to offer a seat. Of course, nobody on the aisle or in a single seat bothered to move... Today was hardly an exception. It's as if all sense of right and wrong, of how to treat one another, has been tossed out the window. These are small things, issues of manners and courtesy, but they're indicative of a deeper problem...our culture has become one of aggressive individualism in which the common good is ignored for the private gain or comfort. I'm number one; I'm the only one that matters. It's not far from that attitude to shooting recklessly into a crowd...other people don't matter, they're just in the way. Whew. Needed to get that out. The church I visited today is quite small...the congregation this morning was about 20. Of course it's also New Year's Day and churches are rarely full when Sunday lands on January 1st. Still, it's a small parish. The neighbourhood is a tad sketchy...housing projects dominate the skyline and dive bars and dodgy restaurants dominate the storefronts. The streetcar passed a strip club on the way there, but that's not so surprising. There was an "adult" video store a block away from St. Anne's. Side Note 2: Incidentally, that always made me a bit uncomfortable. Whenever I used the Dundas car to get to St. Anne's I had to disembark right in front of that store. In my paranoid imagination I was certain that the other passengers assumed I was heading furtively for the neon XXX. As lingering evidence of this paranoia, notice that I used the word "disembark" rather than the colloquial "get off." The liturgy at this new parish is quite high...in places they do things that I find a bit much, which is saying something. They tend to genuflect more than is strictly necessary, and bow when they're carrying things such as cross and bible. They do things in a different order than I'm used to, and they use the BCP (which is equivalent to the Episcopal Church's 1928 book) rather than the BAS. Boo-hoo, I can cope. On the other hand, this place seems to practice my style of liturgy. It's dignified and serious and while I may be neither, I like to worship as if I am. It would be very nice to have smells and bells again, and to say the Angelus and to kneel for communion. These, too, are little things...little things that I miss. I'm anxious to hear what sort of programs are in place and what possibilities there might be for an intern. I know that they do some substantial outreach and that they host a day care. What else remains to be seen. Still, it's good to have an idea of where I might be, even if it's just an idea. |
