The Anti-Father Brown by Travis Berg

Abbe Birotteau

Note: This post was written by Gottesblog contributor , Fr. Travis Berg - who was having a technical issue and asked me to publish it for him. - Ed.

Gottesdienst’s main focus is the liturgy. And that sets two paths before us. One path is the path of Father Brown. The creation of G. K. Chesterton, Father Brown has great insight into human nature, especially into human wickedness. Fr. Beane did a wonderful episode on Chesterton on The Gottesdienst Crowd podcast and I encourage you to go and listen to that.

The liturgy was the scaffolding which allowed Father Brown to develop a mind attuned to sin. The confessional taught him about duplicate brown paper parcels. Three parishioners in Hartlepool wore spiked bracelets and taught Father Brown to identify them. My favorite line of Father Brown’s is this: “Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men’s real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?” The liturgy developed Father Brown’s mind to view the world theologically. The confessional gave Father Brown the tools to fight crime. In short, the liturgy gave Father Brown a framework to interpret contemporary events.

But there is another kind of priest. He is an anti-Father Brown. Father Brown’s opposite is found in The Vicar of Tours, written by Honoré de Balzac. The titular character, Abbe Birotteau, is described in this way:

Now the Abbe Birotteau, whose goodness amounted to stupidity, whose knowledge was only, as it were, plastered on him by dint of study, who had no experience whatever of the world and its ways, who lived between the mass and the confessional, chiefly occupied in dealing the most trivial matters of conscience in his capacity of confessor to all the schools in town and to a few noble souls who rightly appreciated him,—the Abbe Birotteau must be regarded as a great child, to whom most of the practices of social life were utterly unknown.

Abbe Birotteau does not use the liturgy to interpret life and his dealings with others. Instead of using the liturgy as a lens by which he views life, he employs the liturgy as a blinder. He is utterly out of touch with his surroundings and needlessly causes offense, which leads to the loss of his most prized possessions on earth.

How do we use the liturgy? Is the liturgy a means by which we orient our lives and how we view the world? Or is the liturgy a bit of escapist theatre? In other words, are we Father Browns or Abbe Birotteaus? If the liturgy does not speak to contemporary crimes and circumstances like LGBTQ+, transgenderism, civil and ecclesiastical governance, and all-around living in the world, then what is it good for?

I, for one, applaud the work of Gottesdienst in addressing contemporary issues. This is not a departure from Gottesdienst’s stated purpose. No, it is simply an application of the liturgy to daily life and events. I pray that all pastors and laypeople become Father Browns, who learn from liturgical acts how to better interpret the world and serve God and their neighbor.