Disagreeing with Canceling Holy Week

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VonDerTann said:
Do you think it is possible to social distance in mass?

Should mass be limited in attendance
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Possible to both.
VonDerTann said:
Should the chalice be shared?
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I never think the cup should be shared.

I also think that perhaps if churches are locked, more places then should be also. I’m especially right now thinking about factories, where it is difficult to practice social distancing. These people are not safe, other places also are not safe. Trying to buy milk the other day I couldn’t get people to stay 6 feet away. I finally had to say something to the person behind me in line.

So, I realize you are wanting answers and seem to be a little demanding in wanting these answers. As I said I am not saying how I feel one way or another because I can see both sides and understand why people are finding this confusing.
 
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Unfortunately I do not see the side of having public masses, since it’s close to public suicide (or homicide) at this juncture.

The first priest death in the US on account of the Wuhan flu occurred today. I am flabbergasted at what I see as the willingness of some to consign more of them to death so they can have the convenience of Sunday mass.

I also see a lot of people who want what they want (mass) without any sense of responsibility for the ramifications of their desires.
As I’ve said, many people go years without masses. We can go a few weeks or months.
 
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MagdalenaRita said:
I also think that perhaps if churches are locked, more places then should be also. I’m especially right now thinking about factories, where it is difficult to practice social distancing. These people are not safe, other places also are not safe. Trying to buy milk the other day I couldn’t get people to stay 6 feet away. I finally had to say something to the person behind me in line.
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That might be a failing on the governments part. In Australia people are being fined for failing to comply and the police are door knocking to ensure that people in quarantine are complying strictly. Most of the beaches have been closed and are patrolled. My son is jokingly referring to us as the Cov-iet Union. As a late starter with the arrival of the virus, we are blessed to be having the benefit of seeing what has worked and what has not in other countries.
 
davetv said:
Yes that something greater is Jesus truly present in the blessed sacrament. So making it less important than everything else is sad on your part.
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You’ve misunderstood the lesson. Jesus had not even been crucified when He was walking through the fields with the disciples (of course). He was talking about merciful love. And that was demonstrated by meeting the physical needs of His disciples before sacrifice.
 
Now, let’s say we limit mass attendance.

I guess we now will have people showing up early to get in.
What will they do? Line up. And I guess we need someone at the door to do a count - so there’s 1 more person, who will interact with people.

Are we going to break up a family of 4 when there’s only room for 2?

What if a person looks sick and is coughing?

See, it’s not so easy to limit mass attendance - particularly when we don’t “need” mass at all, just as the sailors/prisoners/Astronauts I mentioned earlier.

When questioned closely, the arguments of the pro-mass crowd look awfully selfish.
 
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Emeraldlady said:
That might be a failing on the governments part
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I agree with that for sure.
VonDerTann said:
particularly when we don’t “need” mass at all,
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This is what I heard a priest today say he was concerned would be a continued attitude after this was over.

I understand where you are coming from. I think people are just wanting to realize we are missing the most important thing there is in this world.

As I said earlier, I think it would be horrible if people weren’t sad about missing Mass.
 
I’m certainly not happy about it. The only thing worse than closed churches is open churches filled with people - and some of them are infected…
 
Yet they all sacrificed their lives for Him in the end yet we are deterred by FUD.
 
I was heartbroken when I woke up a couple weeks ago to find all Masses cancelled, and even more saddened that, short of a miracle, the virus will not be amply contained by the time Holy Week comes around. But the ordeal is if we all congregated for mass, people WOULD die. God’s people WOULD die.

The elderly are especially at risk, and who makes up a majority of congregations (at least around where I’m from anyways)? The elderly. And on top of that especially for people with scruples, it’s not so much that they’re “willing to accept the risk,” it’s a matter of they fear hell if they weren’t to “accept the risk.” So the faithful have been asked NOT to gather for now because we shouldn’t take risks that risk other people’s lives.

It’s ok to be sad. But trust your bishop. Do what you can to prevent the spread, and pray there will be an end to this soon. And when you are able to return to the sacraments again, rejoice!
 
Common sense is being practiced by our church fathers and though it hurts spiritual my it is the correct thing to do. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, He told the Devil not to put the Lord your God to the Test
 
Big picture: my entire back and forth with dave shows why public masses now are out for the question: because some segment of the population views it as heroic to attend mass when sick; views it as a laudable “holy sacrifice” to attend mass irrespective of whether you infect or kill others doing so; or even to DIE going to mass; and thinks priests are required to die so dave can have Sunday mass.

Catholicism doesn’t require anyone to adhere to that, and thinking that it does is just warped theology and a total misunderstanding of what the church requires of us.

I’d say the bishops agree with me In light of their decisions to close the churches.

(And I conclude dave either won’t or can’t answer any of the questions I posed earlier).
 
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confirmedAgnes makes an excellent point, one which I was trying to make earlier and probably failing: the decision to close churches is necessary in part to protect some of the misguided faithful from themselves, who will go to mass if it literally kills them, and irrespective of whether they might sicken or kill others by going.
 
davetv said:
I find the whole thing frustrating. The USA government managed to do in a week the communists couldn’t do in 40 years. Stop people from going to Mass
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That’s because of the virus and is a temporary situation.
 
Dear brother in Christ,

You are sharing some righteous points. I, too, struggle with feelings of being upset with us, as Catholics, not recognizing that the food and drink at the Mass is more valuable than the food and drink at the grocery store, or that since the Mass is the Hospital for sinners, it should be allowed to remain open.
However, to help us overcome our ultimately wrong position of being upset with the sin of others, we must focus on recognizing and removing the log in our eyes first.
On that note, here we are sharing the necessity of Mass for life, yet we still struggle with sin.
Therefore, I recognize that in the moments we choose to sin, and even the times we accidentally sin, we are more grievous a sinner than those that don’t recognize Mass is more necessary to life than anything else.

In conclusion, let’s redirect our passion to dig deeper in removing worse logs in our eyes, and then work towards helping others remove the specks in theirs without being upset, knowing we too have struggled deeply with sinning.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and thanks be to God!
 
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I was upset for a while but I began to think. Some people are asymptomatic and may have the virus but not show it. They could infect someone who is medically vulnerable. I have a friend who has asthma, diabetes, a bad immune system and is obese. She would be very vulnerable. I am hale and hearty but I am not going to see her - I may be asymptomatic and I don’t want to risk giving her the virus if I was carrying it.
Also, I have come to believe that obedience is important and, even though I am not happy missing Holy Week, I am practicing obedience and offering it up.
 
I agree, and disagree with the OP. Of course it is okay that we do not agree with our bishop on decisions he makes that are based on prudence, any more than we agree with the decisions of our politicians (I hesitate to call them leaders at this time). But they are the ones to make these decisions that must be made for all.

I see two extremes by leaders, private an public. The first is the disregard of the danger. The second is the exaggeration of the danger. This is a virus, not magic. But people are dying. I sympathize with what the bishops have done and mostly believe it is necessary, but only because a lack of creative thinking. People (at least enough people) are stupid. We still had people congregating on the beaches up until the access was closed. Everyone else knew they were being reckless, so the beaches had to be closed. On the other hand, there is no danger in going to a beach by oneself or with one’s household. Yet for the sake of the stupid, the prudent have been restricted. It is like tennis being canceled in England. No one can get that exercise from a safe distance because of a few that would still treat it like a social gathering. So I understand why the bishops did what they did.

My one objection in most of what is being done is it is so short-sighted. I do not know of anyone that is re-opening with proper safety protocols in place so we can go for months, as we cannot just shut down for months. My parish had a protocol in place to open the Church to ten people at a time, six feet apart, for fifteen minutes each. We had a safe place to pray. We could have continued for months. One option for Mass would be to offer more Masses, spread through the week, with a sign-up genius to limit the number of attendees, and designated spacing. Eventually, if we are to move forward, these types of solutions will be needed.

I note that those places that are open have already made these adjustments. I laughed and appreciated the way Bucee’s had a line where the customer does his business, and a line for the clerk, and only one at a time is at the counter.
 
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