This is the part where Holy Mother Church tells you to give each other a nice, big kiss

Saint Linus Roman Catholic Church
Natick, MA
November 4, 2007


We are in Massachusetts for a wedding this weekend – my nephew Nick was married yesterday at this church, and we are back again on Sunday morning for mass. This is a lot of Catholic churches in a row for me.

The priest, Monsignor Robert Giggi, conducted the wedding yesterday. He has a charming Boston accent. The wedding was quick – only about 30 minutes, no communion. The most memorable part of it was when Monsignor Giggi said, “This is the part of the service where Holy Mother Church tells you to give each other a nice big kiss.”

Saint Linus is a newer-looking (1950s? 1960s?) rectangular tan brick building. It looks as though it seats at least 600, and I estimate that there are perhaps 350-400 people here for the 11:00 am mass.

The front of the sanctuary looks like a bit of a hodge-podge to me. There are small modern stained glass windows on either side of an emaciated Christ on the cross, which is hung against red and gold wallpaper with a very large pattern. There are several other statues, the two flags (Vatican and American), flowers, felt banners, the altar table – lots of stuff up there.

Reading the bulletin while waiting for the service to begin, I notice a question-and-answer column, Dear Padre. Someone has asked if Catholics should take communion in Protestant churches, if they happen to be there for a wedding or some other service where it is offered. The Padre says that the answer is no, because “it implies a unity between our traditions that does not exist.” That seems fine to me. Then he says that “Protestants usually believe that any baptized Christian may receive communion,” which is a little off. Many Protestant churches have closed communion, and wouldn’t expect or want Catholics to participate.

The sermon, which is about twelve minutes long, is good. It’s about three types of brokenness: the broken Word, the broken bread, and broken people. We are encouraged to encounter Christ in all these situations.

At this church they offer only bread for the Eucharist, one of the those Catholic habits that still surprises me now and then. The service is finished in under an hour. Everyone is invited to the fellowship hall for coffee and refreshments, but we need to get back to the hotel to check out and meet relatives for lunch.

When I began this project I thought I would be drinking lots of coffee and eating lots of cookies after church with various groups, but it hasn’t turned out that way at all. Somehow I have managed to hit upon only a few churches that even have coffee hours, and now, on one of the few times I found one, I can’t stay.

Epilogue

I was curious about the name of the church – who was Saint Linus? I associate that name only with the thumbsucking philosopher of Peanuts fame. I began with Wikipedia, where I learned that Linus was the second pope. Some people think he is also the Linus mentioned in 2 Timothy, though there is nothing official about that opinion. Tertullian says that Clement was the second pope, but the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) says that Tertullian was off base on that one.

Only a very few things are known about this Linus, and most of them are disputed. He seems to have been a Tuscan, which would indicate that the church began choosing Italian popes pretty early, after their first Palestinian Jewish pope. Some sources say that he decreed that women should cover their heads in church! Aha – so he’s the guy responsible for that one? Wait, no – the Catholic Encyclopedia says that this story is apocryphal. The same source that says he’s behind the headcovering decree also says that he was martyred, which the Encyclopedia pronounces “improbable. For between Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman Church.” For a while, some people thought Linus had been buried alongside Peter, but that view is no longer popular. At one point a letter concerning the martyrdom of Peter and Paul was attributed to Linus, but later this was also declared to be false.

It must be incredibly difficult to do early church history.

You know, some ministers worry about taking over a pulpit after an especially popular or charismatic or famous pastor has left or died, because they tend to suffer by comparison. They should think about poor Pope Linus. Just imagine having Peter as your predecessor!

Basically, it seems we know nothing about Pope Linus. In that respect he’s like most other people, of course – so two cheers for Linus, the unknown Pope!