Disagreeing with Canceling Holy Week

[Tis_Bearself]

Yeah, even where we can still gather there are limitations on the size. Given that Easter Masses and Holy Week services often fill the church, we would likely exceed the limitation. The only way to do it would be to have everybody drive to the service, park in the parking lot, and listen to the priest on the car radio. Some priests are doing this for Holy Week prayer services, but it would not be good to do it for a Mass, especially where the bishops have suspended Mass…and then you have a big problem with distributing Communion since the person distributing Communion will be getting close to a whole bunch of people.

 

[andre03051]

I’m married as well. If my wife said she wasn’t comfortable, I don’t go since we’re no longer two, but one.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If there’s an outbreak in your area, the last thing you want is the Catholic Church getting blamed for making it worse. We’re already getting blamed and sued for so many other things.

There are Protestant churches encouraging big gatherings at their churches claiming that Jesus will protect everyone from the virus. It’s not going to look good if one of them ends up having 50 or 100 attendees fall ill, like that Protestant church in South Korea did.

It’s better for our bishops to show that the Church encourages its members to be prudent good citizens and not take risks with the public health.

 

[catholiclala]

The Church has practiced social distancing in the past during a plague.

Very interesting image. What is the source? It would be hard for that tool not to touch the tongue. I wonder if they somehow disinfected (or even had knowledge of such) between communicants.

 

[ThomasMT]

I really don’t see that the same thing to be honest.
Putting out a fire that can damage and kill people is not the same as people missing mass because the bishops have required mass to be stopped.

I can agree that it’s not the same thing. One vocation entails saving lives while the other, saving souls. Personally, I’m more concerned by cancelled confessions than Masses… but thats a seperate issue. The bishops have their duties too. How they fulfill those duties and accept the consequences of their decisions is between them, our Pope and above all, our Lord.

 

[catholiclala]

See this thread for why choosing to attend can cause turmoil.

Allowing people to attend mass Moral Theology

Let me start off by saying I’m probably not objective about the situation. The situation is both my mother in law and my mother live with my wife and me. My MIL and I don’t get along that well. Since public mass has been suspended in my diocese our pastor has quietly allowed a few people to attend anyway and my MIL is one of them, typically there are fewer than 10 in attendance. Put quite simply I don’t like that she is putting the rest of the residents of our home more at risk by attending,…

 

[MagdalenaRita]

Very interesting image. What is the source?

It wasn’t my image. It has been around different websites on the internet, which is why I switched my words to “it appears the Church has practiced social distancing in the past”. I suspect they would have disinfected it the best way they knew at that time.

I’m open to hearing why it’s wrong to be upset, because I am. I’m really trying to understand especially since, in my limited circle, I appear to be the only one that is aggravated by the decisions.

I just wanted to add that in my area many of the church doors are locked so you can not even go in and pray, light a candle or have private adoration. I am bothered by that.

 

[ThomasMT]

If there’s an outbreak in your area, the last thing you want is the Catholic Church getting blamed for making it worse. We’re already getting blamed and sued for so many other things.

Respectfully, you have presented many good points. I would argue that fear of persecution is not one of them.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think it’s important to show that the Church is a good citizen and does not encourage irresponsible behavior. And frankly, it’s not the first time in history the Church cancelled Masses and closed churches over an epidemic.

I was appalled that the President of Mexico, a country with not very good health care, where people will certainly die if coronavirus breaks out in a major city, went on TV and claimed he was protected from coronavirus because he was a good and moral person and then displayed what appeared to be a scapular that he believed had protective powers. That is not good for the Church and is a misuse of sacred objects like they are lucky charms. I pray for his country.

 

[CilladeRoma]

I work in healthcare. I need the Sacraments more than anything now, but I am sucking it up because I have seen people die.
This virus is not just about you. I have to go to work, but I also have to buy groceries and get gas and get food. If you have been exposed and do any of these things before me, you are potentially putting all the people I care for at risk. And all of them are already compromised, so COVID19 will probably kill them.
Is Mass really “essential” in light of the safety and welfare of others?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

We also still have Mass. There are streaming Masses all over the place. I just virtually attended a streaming 4:30 pm Saturday vigil Mass. Sure, it’s a hardship to not be able to go in person and not be able to receive Holy Communion, but I am willing to make the sacrifice for the public good as numbers ramp up in my county.

There are going to be streaming Holy Week Masses and services as well.

 

[Lookingforjoy]

Let’s say that Masses were being held, and you made the decision that risking infection from coronavirus was worth attending. Then let’s say you contract the virus, and you still feel that it was worth it to attend Mass. In some areas of the country health care is starting to be rationed, and doctors are starting to make decisions about who gets ventilators and who gets medication. Are you going to go to the hospital and possibly take life-saving measures away from someone else because you thought it was worth it to attend Mass? Do you think it’s worth it to accidentally spread the virus to someone on the sidewalk after church who didn’t even ask for it, and have them take up healthcare resources? We are all interconnected in this system, and at some point your decision is going to impact other people. I’m happy that the bishops have stopped Mass for now.

 

[catholiclala]

I work in healthcare. I need the Sacraments more than anything now, but I am sucking it up because I have seen people die.
This virus is not just about you. I have to go to work, but I also have to buy groceries and get gas and get food. If you have been exposed and do any of these things before me, you are potentially putting all the people I care for at risk. And all of them are already compromised, so COVID19 will probably kill them.
Is Mass really “essential” in light of the safety and welfare of others?

Yeah, I don’t know what people think is going to happen to them if they miss Mass under these circumstances. I would hope they believe their faith is not so fragile that this will damage it? Do they believe God will be angered that they didn’t take this risk? What is the worst case scenario that has many so upset?

I adore the Mass, it changed my life. I was looking forward to this my third Easter as a convert, but I just don’t think it’s the end of my Catholic life if I cannot go at the moment. Is it pride, fear, entitlement, reluctance to change routine?

The Lord calls us to do many unforeseen things and I trust this is his will at this time for whatever mysterious reason.

 

[Emeraldlady]

That is literally all I think to myself. I pray for understanding why I appear to be the only one that feels the way I do. I pray for humility to accept my superiors have the burden of the decisions and they don’t need to answer to me (that I don’t even have a right to know).

It’s a very secular thing to turn the experience of loss and grief into an unreasonable anger towards the leaders. Perhaps instead, contemplate that Christ shaped emptiness as a grace through which you can grow both in understanding and charity. It’s a waste of such a blessed opportunity to carry the Cross for this short period in our lives.

Edit to add: Did your feelings increase after reading those radicals on the internet who use every opportunity to sew division.

 

[MagdalenaRita]

Yeah, I don’t know what people think is going to happen to them if they miss Mass under these circumstances.

I do not think it is a fear of what is going to happen to them if they miss Mass as if they do not trust God’s love and understanding but Mass is where Catholics turn in a crisis and are feeling that loss. There is a comfort in crying out to God at Mass and we know that it is God who is in control and will answer our prayers.

 

[catholiclala]

I do not think it is a fear of what is going to happen to them if they miss Mass as if they do not trust God’s love and understanding but Mass is where Catholics turn in a crisis and are feeling that loss. There is a comfort in crying out to God at Mass and we know that it is God who is in control and will answer our prayers.

I get that, but there are other ways. I always pray daily but have added other devotions and there are many other resources now in this internet age. You can watch Mass or prayer services online, you can do a virtual bible study with other parishioners (did this a few days ago and it was amazing), find some spiritual reading online. How many saints were made under circumstances where there was no opportunity for them to have Mass? I think some self reflection and call to carry the cross of this sacrifice are in order. Much more productive than carrying anger over what cannot be controlled. God is still accessible, even without Mass.

 

[MagdalenaRita]

Yes I agree and understand what you are saying. It is just all these other spiritual exercises do not equal the Mass and that is what is creating this empty feeling. I agree we should offer it up in sacrifice, perhaps for reparation for the abuses against the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but also feel that a worse situation would be if Catholics didnt care that they couldn’t go to Mass.

 

[catholiclala]

Yes I agree and understand what you are saying. It is just all these other spiritual exercises do not equal the Mass and that is what is creating this empty feeling. I agree we should offer it up in sacrifice, perhaps for reparation for the abuses against the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but also feel that a worse situation would be if Catholics didnt care that they couldn’t go to Mass.

I am heartbroken that I cannot go and am happy that people are passionate about it. That doesn’t negate me thinking there are some foolish dissenting arguments making the rounds. I just look forward to how glorious it will be when we all return to Mass.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Exactly. We obey civil authorities out of not only commandments but also in the law of Charity.

People at Mass put not only each other but the priest at a higher risk. I know I would rather have healthy priests who can administer Rites to the very sick and dying and the inconvenience of watching Mass online.

 

[commenter]

We live in the Entitlement Generation. If people show up at Mass, it never occurs to them there could ever be a reason for not going to Communion.

Like the Protestant reformers we assume the Mass had no value if there is no congregation. Like certain other heretics we tend to split the Spirit from the body, so we hear “the soul is more important that the body” so open the churches. (As if putting others at risk of contagion had no spiritual consequences.

Some people even reference St JP 2, forgetting his Theology of the Body.

All these rogue websites such as Church Militant hammer the bishops not necessarily because they are wrong but because they are bishops. If the bishops allowed public Masses and some caught the Virus there, do you think the websites would hesitate one minute to blame the bishops for that?