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(RNS) - From an email from the Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter of the Congregational Church of Patchogue (N.Y.):
“I have never been so down on my luck that I had little or no access to toilet paper ~ but that is not the case with many people. We at the Congregational Church of Patchogue want to thank you for helping us to help people meet their most basic needs: simple foods, toilet paper, soap, feminine hygiene products and other items. This photo is from “The Blessing of the Toilet Paper” at the church. We serve people without regard or question as to their address, age, preferences, orientation, ethnicity. The only requirement is that they seek what we have to offer. And what we can offer is up to you. Please send contributions to The Congregational Church of Patchogue, 95 East Main St. Patchogue, NY 11772. Write pantry or TP in the memo section. 100% of contributions go to purchase much needed items.”
“The Blessing of the Toilet Paper” will take place during the worship service on Sunday, May 17, at 10 a.m.
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I will not comment on whether blessing toilet paper in a church is appropriate or not, but for what it's worth, I'll simply recount something I was told. A close friend of mine, during a period of time before I met her, spent years addicted to drugs, and even prostituted herself to get money for drugs. I thank God that with His mercy she has been able to rise above that life, and is now healthy, happy, and very much a contributing member of society. I don't ask her questions about her previous way of life, but once she told me, sort of "out of the blue," that one of the worst degradations she remembers from that time was the fact that she almost never had toilet paper available for use. When visiting other drug addicts who had housing (of whatever type), those folks never seemed to have toilet paper, either. It really surprised me that despite everything she had gone through (mostly because of her own poor choices) the lack of toilet paper was one of her most painful memories. Even though we may laugh at what this minister is planning to do by "Blessing the Toilet Paper," I agree with him that this is an important item for parishes to be collecting and giving away to people in need.
ReplyDeleteMy mom grew up in utter poverty. The would tear pages out of the phone book when they ran out of TP. Pro tip: rub the pages together to soften them up!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely left an impression: my uncle had to explain to his fiance why there was an entire closet in his apartment filled with nothing but toilet paper.