For those of you who are religious, you may find what I'm about to say extremely offensive.
Continue reading at your own peril....
You've been warned!!
All of the following stories are completely true. Well, they are completely true to the best of my memory.
The bells of Saint Matthew ring loud and proud. It's 9:50 AM. The "Call To Mass" as they referred to it. Everyone knows what time Mass starts. 10:00 AM. For GOD SAKES, what's up with those damn bells? Nobody DARES to walk into Mass late. If you can't make it on time, it's better not to show up at all. That's what I always said. I remember once a family walked into Mass during the Kyrie, and the priest halted right there and then, stared at the offending family (along with the entire congregation) and shamed said family in front of God, all of Heaven and all of creation too.
That family was MY family. And we never did it again. Nobody did.
So, now you know why the need for these bells are, well, needless! But they rang them anyway. Two entire towers full of them...16 in total. All ringing at once. I love church bells at Christmas time, but the rest of the year.... FORGET IT!!
Back in Catholic School, we had to go up there into those towers and clean the cob webs off the bell mechanisms. Child Labor if you ask me. And of course, they always forgot to turn the damn things off while we were up there. The bells were set to chime once an hour during daylight hours and 10 minutes before and after each Mass. Covering your hands over your ears was only marginally helpful. The sound travelled straight through them. I think the priests and the nuns had a good laugh at our expense. I could just picture them down there laughing. Yeah. ha ha. Real funny. Now I think I know why I'm so hard of hearing. In my left ear especially.
Say what, ya'll??
More later.....
