You can spot them a mile away. Men in white robes with belts made of huge beads stick out wherever they are. They certainly stick out in the middle of all the government buildings in Washington, D.C. During the Women’s March a couple weeks ago, they stood out for their kindness to people very different from them.

The men are Dominican friars. Friars are like monks except that they move around, while monks commit themselves to a single monastery. The robes are called habits and the belts actually giant rosaries, or prayer beads, with a large crucifix on the end. You can’t miss these guys.

Desperate People

The friary, their home, and St. Dominic’s church where they serve sit three blocks straight south of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Some of the Dominicans noticed a few people looking for a restroom and invited them to use the friary’s guest restrooms. The church and friary are a long way from the route of the march, but people must have been desperate.

Soon, several hundred people had lined up. Many of them were wearing or carrying pro-abortion or anti-Catholic slogans, not to mention wearing the peculiar hats. Some of the signs were rude or obscene.

God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, promised us that “My word shall not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire.” He asks us to testify, but He’s the one who’s really speaking.

This bothered Brother Martin Davis, a student at the Dominican House of Studies, also in Washington. He wrote about it in the students’ blog Dominicana. To be fair, some of the marchers covered up their slogans. Others started passing the hat to raise money for the church, and raised several hundred dollars.

As Br. Martin talked to the marchers, he found they had different reasons for being there, and he agreed with some of them. “Some marchers simply did not want to see their daughters grow up in a world that would objectify them and otherwise mistreat them,” he wrote. That he understood.

But what about the real hardcore marchers? Br. Martin found sources of common ground even with some of them. Fortunately, the Catholic Church (and Christianity in general) says a lot about a lot of things. Many people who really dislike the Church don’t know that. Br. Martin talked with the marchers about “the Church’s teachings on the dignity of women, of laborers, and of the poor, as well as the importance of the environment.”

The Sign of the Friars

Not surprisingly, some wanted to know more about these men in the white habits with giant rosary belts. As Br. Martin noted, “The peculiar situation of some people wearing ‘Get your rosaries off my ovaries’ next to men actually wearing rosaries on their belts did not stop many from inquiring into what brings us to live lives dedicated to Christ.”

The friars offer a sign of contradiction to our culture. Just committing themselves not only to being single but to being celibate for life strikes many Americans as weird or crazy. Making a lifetime commitment to a single community and its work strikes many as being just as weird or crazy. The funny outfits signal their commitments.

The friars offer a sign of contradiction to our culture. Just committing themselves not only to being single but to being celibate for life strikes many Americans as weird or crazy. Making a lifetime commitment to a single community and its work strikes many as being just as weird or crazy. 

Who knows what effect the friars’ kindness to marchers with bursting bladders had on them — not just the kindness of providing restrooms but the kindness of talking with people who seemed so different from them. In such a divided society, the desire to talk — and especially to listen — offers a great witness.

Surely some of the seeds fell on good soil. “Some may have begun to consider the Gospel in a deeper way,” Br. Martin wrote, but I would say, “did begin to consider.” We can’t underestimate how many people, even ones wearing pro-abortion shirts and wearing peculiar pink hats, search for what we have in Christ, and how open they are to finding it.

We also shouldn’t underestimate the power of God working through our words. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, promised us that “My word shall not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire.” He asks us to testify, but He’s the one who’s really speaking.

The Power of the Gospel

“The power of the Gospel and the saints really can reach far,” Br. Martin wrote. People appreciate kindness. They change when they find out that the people they thought their enemies aren’t. The Dominicans pointed the marchers to God and to a new and fulfilling life. They planted seeds that will grow someday.

And all it took was some men in unusual outfits who had restrooms to share.