Bishop at Mass at the State Fair: ‘Be persistent in faith, relentless in intercession’
Visiting deacon ministers to traveling showmen, carnival workers
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Throughout their time in the desert, God’s Chosen People gathered to worship him in the sacred confines of a tent.
Fast-forward to 2026, when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered under a shady tent in the middle of the Missouri State Fairgrounds.
“Being here reminds me of the Tent of Meetings from our earliest traditions,” said Bishop Ralph B. O’Donnell, “all the way back to the time of Moses, when God’s people gathered in the presence of the Ten Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant in the Tent of Meetings that then could be struck and taken wherever they needed to go.”
Bishop O’Donnell offered Sunday Mass the morning of Aug. 16 at the State Fair in Sedalia.
Father Christopher Cordes, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish of Pettis County, joined him at the altar.
Assisting them was Deacon Paul Muller, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ chaplain and advisor to the Carnival Community in the United States.
About 300 Catholics from all over the state — more people than chairs — attended.
Local musicians and the substantial St. Vincent de Paul Filipino Choir led the singing.
Blake Allen, Webster Brown IV and Mike Eufinger served at the altar.
St. Vincent de Paul parishioner JoAnn Martin proclaimed the readings.
The sounds of people and machines blurred in the background while the aroma of fair food filled the air.
The Gospel reading (Matthew 15:21-28) told of the Canaanite woman who pleaded with Jesus to free her daughter, who was possessed by a demon.
Jesus at first didn’t respond to her, then asked her sharply why he should help her.
She persisted, and he proclaimed: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
The daughter was immediately healed.
“Jesus did this to test her faith, to make her stand even more firm in her request,” Bishop O’Donnell explained, “holding up in new light the love that she had as a mother for her daughter and the deep faith that she had in Jesus.”
This story is an invitation for all people to recognize their own desire for God, as well as “our own belief in his ability to heal, to give grace, to strengthen us in those areas where we need it most,” said Bishop O’Donnell.
It’s also a reminder to reach out to others — family, faith community, civic community, nation and world — and ask God persistently to help them all come to know him as Lord.
“That in knowing him, we might live in imitation of him, to the glory of God the Father,” the bishop stated.
Babies and small children cooed and fussed in their parents’ arms.
The General Intercessions included prayers for all fairgoers, “that they will be safe and enjoy the hospitality of our community.”
Bishop O’Donnell noted that current and past members of the U.S. military were being honored that day at the fair.
“Thank you so much for your service and the sacrifices you make on our behalf,” he told them. “We continue to pray for your safety and God’s grace in your life and in the lives of your families.”
The bishop also congratulated everyone who was competing in events at the fair and exhibiting their best work there.
He thanked all the fair workers for helping to make the event particularly special and enjoyable.
“We pray for everyone’s safety and thank you for participating,” he said. “May God’s blessings be on you and the time that you spend here. Enjoy this time together.”
Giving back
Deacon Muller has gotten used to the awkward four-second pause whenever he introduces himself on the phone.
“People say, ‘I didn’t know there was such a thing as a chaplain for carnivals,’” the deacon stated.
As the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ chaplain and advisor to the Carnival Community, he provides nonsectarian pastoral outreach to mobile carnival workers across the United States.
“I cover the country and there are about 300 carnivals,” he said.
Deacon Muller has been serving in this role since 2021. He succeeded the late Father John Vakulskas, who was known as “the Carnival Priest.”
Fr. Vakulskas visited Sedalia several times during past State Fairs, providing for the spiritual needs of the traveling carnival workers who bring the rides, corndogs, funnel cakes and games to life.
“They make up what I call my parish on wheels,” the priest told The Catholic Missourian in 2006. “They are my traveling family.”
Deacon Muller learned much from the Carnival Priest, “watching him just be there for people. And we’d occasionally talk about that.”
The deacon is now part of a tight group of people who minister to traveling performers.
“There are priests and nuns who take care of people in the circuses,” he said. “I do the carnivals.”
It’s more responsibility than one man could handle alone, especially considering that Deacon Muller also assists the pastor of a large parish in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.
The key, he said, is to be available and listen. The carnival industry can be stressful, with lots of travel and often-punishing logistics.
“I understand the business,” he said. “So, I’m in a unique position to sit and listen.”
He and his wife, Pam, got to know many of the people who run carnivals through work.
The Mullers started their business in 2000, helping people in the carnival business get financing for traveling carnival rides and concession trailers like the ones on the Midway at the State Fair.
“It’s a niche market,” he noted. “You go to trade shows and get to know a lot of the people.”
As a deacon already acquainted with the industry, he would often assist Fr. Vakulskas at Mass during trade shows and occasionally at funerals for people in the carnival business.
When the Carnival Priest died in 2020, the Showmen’s League of America, based in Chicago, asked Deacon Muller to succeed him as chaplain.
“I can’t offer Mass or hear Confessions like Fr. John could,” the deacon noted. “But I said I’d give it a go.”
He first contacted the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Office of Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers.
He then spoke to his bishop, Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
“I told him they want me to be chaplain to people in the carnival showmen industry,” the deacon recalled. “Then came four seconds of dead silence.”
Deacon Muller explained that with his son now leading the family business, he has time to do what the showmen industry was asking him to do.
“It’s a way for me personally to give back to the industry that helped me raise my family and put my kids through Catholic school,” he said.
Unto dust
Deacon Muller is also the chaplain for the Showmen’s League of America and its St. Louis chapter, as well as the Midwest Showmen’s Federation.
“I go to their conventions and install their officers and maybe do a homily or tell a story that could have a positive effect on them,” the deacon stated.
If he hears about the death of a Catholic in the carnival business, he calls the local priest, introduces himself, waits the requisite four seconds, and says, “I’d be happy to come and serve the Mass with you.”
The priests are always happy to have the help.
He emphasized that what people in the industry often need most is someone to talk to.
“It might be on a weekend or a holiday when they call,” he said. “I’m not a counselor, but I listen and become a presence.”
Deacon Muller once attended an outdoor convention near Tampa, Florida on Ash Wednesday.
“My company set up a little booth,” he recalled. “I had ashes, and I let people know ‘if you want ashes, you can come to our both.’”
About 45 people took him up on the offer.
“Life’s work”
Deacon Muller was very pleased that Bishop O’Donnell came to the Fair.
“You just don’t see that,” he said. “It was so nice to have him there.”
The deacon wore a special stole while assisting the bishop at Mass.
One of the show owners had the stole made for him. It has an embroidered image of a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a concession trailer, two crosses and a Star of David, much like the priestly stole Fr. Vakulskas wore.
Deacon Muller said people who own businesses in the carnival industry are characteristically honorable and philanthropic, helping raise money for scholarships for the children of carnival workers and vendors.
“A lot of them are Catholic,” he noted. “I would guess upwards of 60 percent.”
Many family-owned carnival interests date back to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
“Maybe they’d start out with a pony cart, giving rides for a nickel,” said the deacon. “Then, maybe they’d add a kiddy ride or a merry-go-round and built it up from there.”
Fr. Vakulskas once stated: “When the flashing lights are on and the rides are going, it’s easy to get caught up in glitz and music and happiness and forget about all the people it takes to put this big production on. For many, that is their life’s work.”
Deacon Muller understands.
“It’s an industry that draws a lot of really nice people,” he said. “I’m happy to be a part of it, as was Fr. John.”
