Feeling Abandoned not by God but by the Bishops and Priests

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ann1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Maybe you do have an unfortunate situation. Been there, done that. There was a time in the past where we had a priest who was… less than desirable as far as priests go. I can’t imagine him navigating his parish through these times terribly well. That said, my comments were more on the “collective whole” level - we still have much available to us, especially with technology these days, and while I opted to use your thread here as my own release valve for my thoughts and frustrations, I really just want to offer encouragement. We can pull through it all together, because we are going through it together even if the specifics vary. Gratitude for me has gone a long way toward remedying the depressing losses of the present time. Peace; I’ll be praying with & for you.
 
Ann1 said:
Do you not think if our Bishops and Priests truly believed in the Real Presence of Jesus they would do everything in their power to keep the churches open at least for private prayer
Click to expand...
No. One can believe in the Real Presence while still wishing to not put people at risk of spreading disease, can’t he?
Ann1 said:
I am aware a lot of the priests aren’t media savvy but I do feel that Adoration time and confessions still could have been available without a lot of problems.
Click to expand...
Priests are supposed to obey their bishop. Bishops make prudential judgments; they might be judgments that you disagree with, but they’re still just prudential judgments. I think it’s kinda unfair to accuse a bishop of “abandonment” or “lack of belief in the Eucharist”, just because you disagree with his judgment on physical safety during a time of pandemic.
 
Last edited:
DeniseNY said:
Questioning if they truly believe in the Real Presence because they stopped public liturgies due to a global pandemic is unfair. And horrible. We will have to just disagree on this.
Click to expand...
To be fair, @ann1 wasn’t talking about the public liturgies. She was saying that bishops & priests should have done everything in the power to keep the doors open for at least private prayer.

In many dioceses, the Churches are unlocked and people can come in for private prayer. In my archdiocese, we can enter the Churches for private prayer, adoration, & confession (as long as we maintain social distancing)

However, I believe there is at least one dioceses in Texas (a state where Religious services are considered “essential services”) where all church doors are locked and people can’t even come in to pray for 5 minutes.

I believe that’s what @ann1 meant.

NOTE: I’m not implying that bishops don’t believe. But we are all human and some people (in hindsight) might have been a little over zealous in their honest effort to protect people. I will not fault them for it. But I do think that those who completely locked the churches should start opening them now for private prayer (before any public liturgies) - it would be a good trial run for them.
 
Last edited:
I have to be honest… we need more priests doing things like this (4 minute video):


This priest is from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

NOTE: I said “MORE” not “ALL.”
 
Last edited:
Ann1 said:
This is a serious question to all. Do a lot of you feel abandoned by your Bishops and Priests,?
Click to expand...
Yes. The bishops should have stood up to the governors and said that they will comply with civil orders and recommendations until such time as the local churches find safe ways to celebrate the sacraments. At that point we will be worshipping The Lord together in that way.
 
I personally don’t. I could understand your feeling, depending on where you are. We’re lucky, my priest is being a boss during coronavirus. We have drive through confession, live streamed mass, and He is super active keeping us all informed. That said not all priests are tech savvy like ours, and ours in particular is a really driven person.

I think generally though we have to realize the realities of the virus, and the health concerns. Priests can get sick too, so keeping everyone safe keeps us safe but prevents spread as well. The quarantine time though could be used for more prayer, spiritual reading, and catching up on devotions. I personally intend well but life distracts me from even my daily rosary. Prayer is essential, it’s a great time to redevelop those good habits!
 
Ann, I honestly don’t see your post as anything wrong. I dont feel that way myself about priests of bishops. But I’m not understanding the assumptions to the contrary by other posters.
 
Servant31 said:
I didn’t get that impression from the OPs post.
Click to expand...
I’ve already discussed, in great detail in another post, the issue with the OP’s post containing what appeared to be a rather insulting personal attack on priests, namely suggesting that they must not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus because they are following the COVID-19 guidelines and keeping the churches closed in accordance with the choice made by their particular bishop. I’m not the only one who had an issue with that statement.

I think at this point the subject has been thoroughly discussed in the thread above, if you read all the posts, and there is no point in going over it again at this point. Muting thread now, have a nice weekend.
 
Last edited:
This is an unprecedented and difficult time for all. The Bishops and Priests wish to protect their people, accomplished by advising them to stay home. And at the same time their flock needs more attention and ministry than usual, not less. There’s no absolutely perfect clear path to take. Opinions on how to proceed vary from region to region. We can easily unite with Catholics online, and Mass or Homilies online can lift your spirits. But there’s an undeniable loneliness and grief sometimes, robbed of normal fellowship. The Archbishop of our region has actively reached out to all of us, the Priests have quite a good online presence. I enjoy looking up Pope Francis and watching his masses. EWTN streams well from your phone. I have Catholic books and several great Bibles on my kindle which I read late at night. This can be a time of spiritual growth, if we can just let it happen.
 
This morning it struck me how some of His people are speaking in the way the children of Israel did in the desert. Complaining that manna is boring they want something else to eat, complaining when Moses was gone that they want to go back to Egypt, heck complaining that Moses’ wife was black!!

We again have the opportunity to recieve the Eucharist!!! For me will be first time since March 16. Let’s not bicker and mutter about the cautious precautions that our Bishops have put in place.
 
here is another GREAT homily from a priest regarding this topic.

Father entitled his homily, Eucharistic Famine . He gave this homily on May 3, 2020

It’s only 13 minutes long… I HIGHLY recommend listening to it

God Bless!
 
Abandoned?

Shunned? Maybe. Or at least something similar.

I work at the parish. And I have an auto immune.

My doctor put me on lock down a few days before the rest of the state went on lock down. I notified my pastor/boss.

He basically accused me of not having faith in God. And then stomped away from me.

I hope that he now sees that I was simply part of the crowd. And our Archbishop was part of that crowd.

That it had nothing to do with lack of faith. But more to do with prudence.
 
Ann1 said:
This is a serious question to all. Do a lot of you feel abandoned by your Bishops and Priests,? I know in this area some of the churches were locked with no live-streaming, not many words of inspiration or reaching out. Some in neighboring counties have live-streamed their Masses which I watched at first but quit. Do you not think if our Bishops and Priests truly believed in the Real Presence of Jesus they would do everything in their power to keep the churches open at least for private prayer and yes I know you can pray anywhere. I know some priests have and God Bless them. What are your thoughts? What has helped you during this time and what is bothering you? How can we keep the faith together?
Click to expand...
I don’t feel abandoned, because by closing the church and urging the faithful to stay home is actually protecting us. If a bishop and/or priest doesn’t do that, then I would strongly suspect that does this person even care about the health and wellbeing of the parishioners. If we all resist the desire to go out and meet people for now, then the pandemic will end faster, and then we’ll be able to resume our normal lifestyles again. Perhaps this is a test from God too. A test to see if we can resist the temptations. Think of how Jesus was in self-isolation in the middle of nowhere for 40 days.
 
maryjk said:
My doctor put me on lock down a few days before the rest of the state went on lock down. I notified my pastor/boss.

He basically accused me of not having faith in God. And then stomped away from me.
Click to expand...
I’m so sorry you were treated that way - it’s inexcusable and shows a complete lack of compassion. To accuse you of a lack of faith, especially when you have a genuine condition, is just facepalm stuff 🤦‍♂️
 
Ann1 said:
This is a serious question to all. Do a lot of you feel abandoned by your Bishops and Priests
Click to expand...
Yes. but it is not simply a feeling, with reason I can see what they do and do not do. They have abandoned , anyways here in this Diocese. What is abandonment? It is locking all parishes. not offering any attempt to be close to parishers. Many Dioceses are doing whatever they can to reach and be with their people while advocatiing to gov’s to open the churches.
in my Diocese, there is a chilling willingness to go along. So I do not simply feel abandoned, but we are abandoned by the church.
 
LoveMercyGrace said:
abandonment

the act of leaving someone or something or of ending or stopping something, usually forever.
Click to expand...
. . . . So then, by that definition, priests and bishops haven’t abandoned the faithful/ After all, they haven’t left – we’re all just sheltering in place, in our respective homes! And, they haven’t “ended” or “stopped” celebrating Mass – they do it every day, and in many cases, they make it available via live stream And it’s not “forever”, either – they’re making plans for the ways in which they might be able to resume public Masses safely. . . .
 
Last edited:
My protestants background helps me to trust God and understand the weaknesses of the people.
Priests are just people, yes in some degree some of them super-human, but they are flesh and blood, and they carry frequently very heavy cross.
Some priests beside the church involves in many other noble activities, and sometimes I wonder how the eagles can notice little insects and dedicate to them their time.
(visit the church members, help their needs)
Some priests run universities, teaching in science academies.
Some priests work as capelans or guiding their nations to a risky political directions working among elites on a highest level, and unwillingly have even many deadly political enemies from oppositioners. (rival states, or parties)
Priests journey is a thorny road.
I think to be dedicated priest on the West is not easier than in some totalitarian countries, because to keep, grow, and preserve faith in the times of freedoms is really not easy.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top