October 9, 2009
Scott Whitehouse
Mater Dei teacher has served as emcee for two bishops
Scott Whitehouse hands Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger his crosier before the beginning of the 2009 Golden Jubilee Celebration. Scott has served as an emcee to both Bishop Gettelfinger and to the late Bishop Francis R. Shea. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Scott Whitehouse bows his head modestly as he says, “It’s been an honor.” It’s also been a joy and it’s been life-changing for him.
Over the last 25 years, he has served as the master of ceremonies for both Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger and for the late Bishop Francis R. Shea.
Back in the mid 1980s, there were discussions about the possibility of a priest shortage. Traditionally, priests had served as emcees for bishops.
Scott was a teacher at Christ the King School in Evansville when he got the call from Bishop Shea asking him to serve as the first lay emcee in the Diocese of Evansville.
Helen Hunter, Christ the King’s principal, appeared at his classroom door with the news, “The bishop is on the phone,” she said.
Today, he still remembers walking down the hallway thinking it was a practical joke, but “it really was the bishop. I asked, ‘Did I do anything?’ and he said, ‘Not yet, but I need to see you today.’”
That afternoon, he drove to the Catholic Center, where Bishop Shea told him, “I have a proposition for you. We’d like to train you to be an emcee for Confirmations.’
“It was out of the blue,” Scott remembers. “I had no idea. I told him, ‘I don’t know anything about any of this.’ He said, ‘That’s OK.’”
He received training for about a month, and his first duties as emcee were at St. Mary Church in Sullivan. Father Ray Brenner was pastor there at the time. “I was very nervous. Father Brenner said, ‘I hope you know what you are doing, because I don’t.’ Bishop Shea put his hands on both of us, and he said, ‘Don’t worry, guys. I’ve been through a lot of these.’”
After the ceremony in Sullivan, Bishop Shea and Scott headed to Bicknell. Scott remembers saying, “I messed something up,” and the bishop responded, “Oh no, no . . . but next time, do this.”
“He was very gracious.”
Three serve Bishop Gettelfinger as emcees
Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger has three men in the Diocese of Evansville who serve as emcees during Episcopal liturgies. They are Deacon Thomas Holsworth of Jasper, Matt Miller of Evansville who is the diocesan director of Worship, and Scott Whitehouse of Evansville who is a theology teacher at Mater Dei High School, Evansville.
“The bishop typically has over 90 liturgies in the diocese every year,” Matt said “We divide them, with Deacon Holsworth usually taking the ones in the northern end of the diocese, and Scott and I taking the rest.
“The willingness to serve in this way for so many years has been invaluable to the bishop.”
The two men connected very quickly, Scott said. Right away, the bishop said, “We aren’t going to talk shop.” That meant the bishop wouldn’t talk about the diocese and Scott wouldn’t talk about his work as an educator.
They discovered that they both enjoyed the Evansville Philharmonic and had many discussions about classical music. Often when they were driving to a ceremony they would listen to Garrison Keillor on the car radio “and we would laugh. Sometimes he would fall asleep — he was in his seventies.”
When Scott faced cancer, he told the bishop, “I have bad news.” The bishop replied, “I think you will be OK.”
“He was very caring,” Scott said.
Back in 1989, when it was time for Bishop Shea to retire, Scott remembers seeing “a great weight lifted from him. It was time for him to do what he wanted to do, to retire, to go to the Philharmonic.”
When Msgr. Gerald A. Gettelfinger was named the fourth bishop of the diocese in March of 1989, he wasn’t required to keep Scott as emcee, but he did.
Scott was one of the emcees at the installation ceremony for Bishop Gettelfinger. “It was a difficult moment,” he remembers. “I had to remove Bishop Shea’s crosier. He walked in as bishop but he did not leave as bishop. He was bishop emeritus.
“His crosier was removed. In full view of everyone in the church, I took it to the sacristy of St. Ben’s. Once it was gone, it was gone. I saw the look on his face. At that moment, it struck him that he was no longer bishop.”
The new bishop “hit the floor running.” When Scott met with him to prepare for upcoming Confirmations he “expected a 20 minute meeting. It was two-and-a-half hours. Bishop Gettelfinger knew what he wanted done, and he was very clear — and he needed me to make that happen.”
Scott says Bishop Gettelfinger is “always very high energy but extremely curious about what was going on and how it was working.”
As they drove to events together “he always gave me the sense when we were talking that I was the center of the conversation. He wasn’t pre-occupied. I always felt very good about that.”
He says that he has tremendous admiration for Bishop Gettelfinger, and “enjoys the times we have spent together. I’ve had the opportunity to go to prison on Christmas morning. It was an experience I wouldn’t change.
“I’ve seen him when he hurts — during the priest abuse scandals — those personal moments. I value the personal moments I have shared.”
Both bishops “gave me their loyalty as emcee,” he said, “and I gave it back.” Today when he is with Bishop Gettelfinger at events around the diocese he says, “I don’t feel like I work for him. I feel like I work with him. That was nurtured by Bishop Shea. It is collaborative.
“There is a sense of loyalty and fidelity. Only in a relationship where you feel committed to what you are doing does that work well.”
In the early years, he wasn’t really clear about his role as a master of ceremonies. Today he is. “Primarily, I make sure the ceremony runs well. I know what’s going on in the ceremony so all the key participants feel comfortable with what is happening. It’s an orchestrating of the movements.
“I worry about all the little stuff so the celebrants don’t.
“The best compliment I was ever given was by a priest who said, ‘You did your job so well you were hardly noticeable.’”
Today, Scott teaches theology at Mater Dei High School in Evansville. Now he knows people are not watching him during the celebrations. “They are watching what is going on.”
Both Bishop Gettelfinger and Bishop Shea expected him to “be there when needed but not be at the center of attention.”
Now, after 25 years, he says, “I don’t worry about the ceremonies like I used to which allows me to enjoy the prayer and worship more today.”
E-mail maryann@themessage-online.org.