3/19/2021
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| Lorenzetti, "Madonna enthroned" |
“The duty of shutting the church should be entrusted…”
In many churches, often times the parish priest himself is required to be the one who personally shuts the Church at night. The act of entrusting this responsibility, however, is part and parcel of many churches, especially those which serve larger communities and have the means and resources to hire custodians for this purpose. Or, even for the one-man parish, there will still be times when he’s on vacation or retreat and another priest is covering for him. Part of the parish priests responsibility for keeping custody of the MBS include entrusting the same duties to another. He’s responsible for whom he selects.
“Persons not addicted to strong drink…”
Nullo 5 reminds the pastor to take note of the particular trustworthiness of the individual to whom he is delegating his responsibility. A person compromised by his particular proclivity towards drunkenness would be a poor choice for a custodian. Other poor choices would include those who might be given to stealing or laziness. This determination is the decision of the pastor and it represents, again—as above with the question of looking around at closing time—not a judgment of the state of grace of the soul of the particular individual per se, such a judgment only God can make, rather it is a reaction to the objective situation of the person’s evident shortcoming.
“The placing of electric bells…”
Alarm systems, a technological development just beginning to come into wider use at the time Nullo was released are recommended as a very commendable additional precaution.
