Churches and Faith Communities as Third Places/ Third Place Stories
When I came to the US in 1982, I was stunned by the “ultra silent participation” at Mass. Used to a vibrant way of worship at home, I was amazed that people were not very active as was the situation back home in Ghana. I am not the only one to feel the “cold version” of Catholicism when I arrived here. Many African Catholics feel the same, and it’s not uncommon for people to stop going to Mass after the first one here. The Evangelicals are always happy to welcome African Catholics who do not feel at home in Catholic communities.
I have never failed to worship at a Catholic community wherever I have found myself– warm or cold attitude. In 1999 I found my Catholic parish at St. Malachy Churn in Burlington, MA. I went there by accident on a Sunday morning. I drove to St. Margaret’s, the one closer to my house. Summer hours were different and so the only “open church” was St. Malachy, the funny looking church on Bedford Street. After my first Sunday service, I started going to every Saturday morning mass. After Mass on the first Saturday I went, I noticed that 4 women sat in the conference room and folded the parish bulletin for almost an hour. I went to the conference room and pulled a chair next to the four elderly ladies. They all looked at me as if I had just landed from a different planet. I knew what was going on in their minds: who is this person? Not only did I look different from them, but I also got the impression that no one had ever offered to help them with the folding of the bulletin. When they almost rhythmically began to move their chairs, I felt a high level of uncomfortability. But I was not in any mood to give up, so I just got a chair and said “I’m going to create a new pile here.” And I became an official member of the Saturday Mass Bulletin folding Crew.
That was the beginning of my ministry at St. Malachy’s– I added to my job of folding bulletins other responsibilities– Sunday school teacher, sacristy assistant, lector, Eucharistic Minister and parish council member. In fact, I became so connected to my parishioners that for all my Boston College Ghana Service Trips, Project Ghana became a donation project where people gave up things for Lent and made a donation to feed the children in Ghana and buy them school supplies during our service trip. Through the recommendation of Father Lenny O’Mally, my Parish Priest, I was also appointed to Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, basically the Advisory Council, for two terms– 8 years.
Every time I invite people to St. Malachy, I almost feel like I should warn them that I cannot do CPR. They seem shocked to see a black person thriving, flourishing, and having a wonderful time at a “white church”. The truth is that St Malachy is my home. It’s my Catholic family.
-Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah