South Texas Catholic Monthly (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 6, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 1, 1999 Page: 10 of 20
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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Huff, ihc Superintendent, blows a large wooden whistle and
like a house of cards the scats, the rigging, the lights, the sound
and the tent come down. What look over two hours to go up
comes down in less than one. By 10:30 p.m. the tent is down,
folded, rolled and loaded; with the help of two elephants the
stakes arc pulled and the circus is ready to roll off the lot as
soon as dawn breaks the next morning. In the words of Samuel
Pepys. "And so to bed!"
Tuesday of Holy Week
Rockdale, Texas
"Mommy, animals stink!"
Back in January at the VIII Annual Gathering of Pastoral
Ministers with People on the Move at St. Martha Parish in
Sarasota, Florida, Mr. Dominic Jando, Artistic Director of the
“Big Apple Circus”, had presented an entire morning on the
history of the circus. During one portion of his presentation
he stressed the importance of animals as being a necessary
component of true circus. "It is important," he stressed, “that
children see and experience animals up close. Children must
realize that animals take a great deal of care and responsibil-
ity. That animals stink! They arc living things not removed
from our world by television, but real. Animals stink, they
smell, they are animals!"
The setup in Rockdale, Texas was very close to the street
and in order to get to the entrance the townies had to pass by
the back enclosure of the elephants! My job on this day was
to keep the crowds moving and make sure no one tried to
cross through the elephant enclosure. The presence of the
elephants slopped everyone that walked by especially the pres-
ence of Jennie and her mother Isa. Jennie is an Asian El-
ephant bom in September at the circus winter quarters. Jeanie,
who is a part of the Carson and Bames breeding program,
weighed 250 lbs. when she was born and now weighs in at
over 750 lbs. She is by everyone's account the cutest thing on
four legs. As one little girl passed with her mother they stopped
and emitted the obligatory “ah, isn’t she cute” which was fol-
lowed by the child exclaiming, “ewh, mommy, animals stink!”
“Yes, they do," 1 replied, “and that's
not even the half of it!"
In 1937 the Miller Family began
their first circus, which gradually
grew and evolved into the Carson &
Bames Circus. From the very start
this circus family has included ani-
mals - first dogs and ponies, and later
horses, elephants, big cats and other
exotic animals. Carson & Barnes
have always treated the animals with
the utmost respect and care. During
the first years of circus ownership, the
circus owners lived in the same trailer
as the animals to make sure that they
had immediate attention in case of an
illness in the night. Grooms continue
to sleep in the same trailers as the
animals at night to continue this same
24-hour care for the animals on the
show.
The relationship between perform-
ing animals and their owners and
handlers is very close. They live and
work together day and night. The
circus livelihood depends upon the
health and the safety of all the animals. So proper care of the
animals is the circus’ number one concern.
Raycroft O R and Father Ralph Rogawski O P. from Austin to
meet the circus in Rockdale and celebrate a Memorial Mass
for “Mary Lou”.
After making the “jump” and setting up, the big top was
readied not for the 4:30 p.m. show but for Mass. Two el-
ephant drums were stacked one on top of the other, covered
with a white cloth, flowers, candles and a picture of Mary Lou
were placed appropriately, the ringmaster relinquished his
microphone, the people gathered and we began to pray for
the repose of the soul of Mary Lou.
Vested as the concelcbrant l sat there and thought how much
like the Children of Israel we were. God had traveled 40 years
in the desert in a tent and been with His people in their sad-
ness and distress as well as their joy. In this great large space,
so familiar to God, we poured out our sorrows, our fears, our
memories and our hope for Mary Lou. “Nada tc turbe , we
sang, “Let nothing trouble you” and the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob filled the tent with calm and love.
Sister Helen led the congregation'through a meditation of
remembrance and invited all that wished to share their memo-
ries of Mary Lou. One by one from the owners to the conces-
sion workers each shared their memories and sadness. At the
offertory we lit smalT votive candles and placed them around
the photo of Mary Lou as a sign of our hope in the Resurrec-
tion and our love for Mary Lou and her family.
Father Ralph and 1 concelebrated the Mass alternating the
parts in Spanish and English and all were fed by the Love of
Christ in the Holy Eucharist. I have presided and
concelebrated at many funerals and memorial services but few
have so profoundly moved my spirit. May her soul and all
the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God,
rest in peace."
The Chapel
Holy Thursday
Georgetown, Texas
"Lions and Tigers and Bears and Pie”
God had done for us. In the words of the psalmist,
turned to the Lord for all Gods bounty to us. Wc lifted up
cup of salvation and called on the name of the Lord. J
our blessing-cup was indeed a communion with the bloods
Christ. JH
From the same table at which We had celebrated theft
charist wc feasted on wonderful and simple food. The
had made fresh lemon meringue pic. Maybe it was j
state of mind, maybe it was the fatigue beginning to set
that was the best lemon meringue pie 1 have ever eatenl
N THIS GREAT LARGE
SPACE, SO FAMILIAR
to God, we poured
OuT OUR SORROWS, OUR
FEARS, OUR MEMORIES AND
OUR HOPE FOR MARY LOU.
"Nada te turbe", we sang,
"Let nothing trouble you”
and the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob filled the
tent with calm and love.
Wednesday of Holy Week
Bastrop, Texas
"Remembering Marfa de la Luz”
Right after the Circus had left its winter quarter in Hugo,
Oklahoma, the company received some very sad news The
wife of one of the circus workers, who had decided to remain
in Mexico to care for the couple’s newborn baby, was killed in
a tragic accident. News of Maria dc la Luz death stunned the
company. Her husband left immediately for Mexico, but the
rest of the company had been unable to do much about it.
Like it or not “the show must go on!” The Little Sisters
had contacted the Dominican Preaching Team of Sister Helen
By now l was beginning to be a familiar face on the lot.
The circus folks began to warm up toward me and started
"taking me in.” Many people who work
for the circus are third and fourth genera-
tion circus families. Circus fans that just
show up and hang around are treated po-
litely but are “just fans."
The only way to know and understand
the circus is to “work”. The circus is hard
work . It takes long hours of practice to
perfect an act safely. It takes great patience
to work with animals not to mention the
patience it takes to deal with the thousands
of people that pass through the tent dairy.
And everyone works! ll is not an un-
common sight to see the owners hauling
out fencing, lying down banners or signs
or picking trash on the lot. The circus
lifestyle must be "in the blood.” Moving
evert’ day, repeating the same task week
after week and living in such close com-
munity and getting along with one another
is unique to circus folks.
Circus is a lifestyle much akin to voca-
tion. Every person in the troupe seems to
have an inner understanding of what they
are about. More than just entertainers most
of the circus folks see themselves as hav-
ing a special gift to offer their guests the townies. They will
all take time to pose for pictures with families and children,
answer questions and offer words of encouragement to bud-
ding voung circus "wana-bees."
So on Holy Thursday we celebrated the Mass of the Lords
Supper just after mid-day. We sat around a small table as we
read the words from the book of Exodus, “This is how you
shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feel, and
vour staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the
Passover of the Lord.” In this place, with these special people
the words took on new meaning In the middle of the hur-
riedness of the day we all stopped and listened to words ol
Johns Gospel, “For 1 have set you an example, that you also
should do as 1 have done for you."
The sisters had baked the simple bread for the Mass and
with simple songs we remembered all the wonderful things
Good Friday
Killeen/Fort Hood
"Peanuts, Military Police and ‘La SambaT
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ilthe East
We ims
We arrived in misting rain with air so thick with
you could cut it with a knife. A mysterious thing had
pened. Bv this lime 1 was no longer me but, us I don't1
when or how this came about but I was suddenly w
warning or fanfare part of the family. _
Being on a military base we were descended upon by MB
of uniformed and un-uniformed Military’ Police their purp
being to “help” us! Basically they walked around with *
acing looks, tripped over ropes, ate peanuts and "hclpedp
be watching the show without paying whenever possibM
At one point 1 found two small children lost in theS
way. 1 asked where the MP's were and found out to mva-1**
ment that the fourth act of the show was in progress,
fourth act of the show being: Jany from Peru, AlcssUJ
Belarus, Natalia from .Russia and Gabriela from Peru a
their electrifying, heart pounding, non-stop, hula-hoopf
salion. There 1 found them, with their heads at quarter!
watching with bugged eyes and open mouths this UOH
lelcd display of rhythmic dexterity. (These young womeanl
spin 50 hula-hoops at once to a fantastic samba beat. Fn
these soldiers w’ere contemplating the physics of such!
After that, anytime you asked, “where arc the MPs,
wag on the lot would roll his eyes and say “Samba!
The Liturgy for Good Friday is the simplest of the
church year All that is required is a plain wooden cross,*
out a corpus, a red cloth to cover it and not much else. T
sisters use a large van-like truck to pull their trailer. TM9
rior of the truck has been transformed into a chapeL 50
Good Friday we crowded into this small simple space at a
uooa rnuay wc tiu»ui.u u..- ------------r . ■
day and celebrated “The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Chill H
.j *i— —*•-'**■ ck y
\ dllU UlVUiawu - --------
Sitting on the floor wc read the readings to each
prayed the intercession and as there was no room tol
much less process, we passed the cross around to one aoo»
for veneration, received communion and then just sal 0*
time in silence. In the silence I wondered if perhaps thj|
urgy, which is the work of people of God. is really a *■
simpler enterprise than we make it in the vast majonh
Parishes? It was just a thought’
1:
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Espitia, Paula. South Texas Catholic Monthly (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 6, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 1, 1999, newspaper, June 1, 1999; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth855660/m1/10/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .