Pastor blesses bikes

Despite what your mother may have told you, motorcycles are not the favored transportation mode on the Highway to Hell.

In fact, Satan - an infamous killjoy - probably doesn't even ride.

But Father Mike Butler does. And he says bikes are A-OK with his boss.

In fact, Butler, pastor of Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Black Forest, said motorcycles are a wonderful, unrestricted way to take in God's creations: the wind, the mountains, the babbling brook along a twisty road, the wretch in the GMC Yukon who just turned into the Conoco.

"When one is biking, they are seeing God's creation all around them," he said.

On Saturday, Father Mike will put his papally ordained powers where his mouth is. He'll bless motorcycles and their riders to mark the start of a new riding season.

The blessing will be part of American Motorcycles' "Thunder on the Lot" event featuring music, food and vendor displays.

Unless the heavens open up, Butler will arrive on his black, fully chromed Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Police model.

If his priest's collar is hard to spot under the leather jacket, look for the bike bearing the license plate "IMNHVN," and enough hard luggage to ac- commodate that eternal trip.

Butler, 62, started riding six years ago, introduced to the sport by his scuba-diving buddies (a life of service doesn't mean a life without fun ...)

He spent time on smaller Japanese cruiser bikes and a smallish Harley. Then he threw a leg over the oldschool V-twin Harley Classic and had, well, a classic moment of temptation:

"When I felt the power, I yielded," the father confessed.

Since then, the priest rides whenever he can, summer or winter.

He's even ridden his bike to the Benet Hill Monastery on Chelton Road, where he performs Mass twice a week for the retired nuns.

Yeah, you guessed it. One of them wanted a ride.

"She absolutely loved it," Bishop said.

Lynn Sherman, director of the new St. Benedict parish in Falcon, helped arrange a bike blessing last spring and this Saturday's event.

Sherman, who is retired after 37 years in law enforcement, rides a Harley Ultra Classic with a sidecar often occupied by his wife, Barbara.

He, like Father Mike, sees a connection between riding and faith:

"Bikers are people of faith," Sherman said. "They rely on how God created the world. You can't enter into a nice, windy road without belief and confidence in God's creation of gravity and centrifugal force and friction co-efficient.

"You add the three together," Sherman said: "Gravity holds the bike on the ground. The centrifugal force keeps it from falling over. And the friction co-efficient allows a small bit of the tire to stick to the road without sliding outward.

"There's a bit of active faith here."

Both men said the blessing Saturday will be nondenominational and is simply a prayer for safety and protection.

And local motorcyclists could use some divine intervention, with a good dash of common sense: About a quarter of motor vehicle deaths in El Paso and Teller counties in 2007 involved motorcyclists, the most the area has seen in five years.

Of the 43 people who died in 2007 crashes, 11 were motorcyclists, and most of the crashes involved drugs, alcohol or both, police report.

Saturday's blessing will differ from your run-of-themill blessing in one small but necessary way, Sherman said.

The Holy Water is special because, well, a man's motorcycle is special.

"I use distilled water so it won't leave water spots on the bike," Sherman said. "Father Mike and I, we understand."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com

GET YOUR BIKE BLESSED

Father Mike Butler of Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church will bless motorcycles and their riders Saturday at American Motorcycles' "Thunder on the Lot" event.

The blessing will be nondenominational and is open to the public. Everyone is invited to participate, Butler said.

The blessing will be at 11 a.m. at 6314 E. Platte Ave. For information, call Lynn Sherman at 495-1426.