Mask situation in your church

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thomas54
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thomas54 said:
With that being said, remember that we are a nation of individuals with constitutional rights and protections and we should not force our perceptions of reality on our fellow parishioners or neighbors. They have enough trouble dealing with their own perceptions
Click to expand...
Since you brought up reality, let me share a snippet of my reality.

I had no underlying risk factors and I caught Covid early in the pandemic. I just got out of the hospital last month. The virus attacked all of my organs and I was on a ventilator for 6 weeks, knocked into a medically induced coma during all of that time. I had to relearn how to walk, talk, and eat. I was in bed, flat on my back for 4 months because I couldn’t move on my own. I came home last month and I can’t take 10 steps without totally exhausting my lungs. I have liver and kidney damage and my doctors have no clue as to how much I can reasonably expect to recover.

Covid is serious business. Personally, knowing what I know now about it, there is no way I would step into a church or a movie theater or any place like that right now. I do go out (mostly to doctor appointments) and I wear a mask and stay away from other people.

We can argue all day long about wether or not masks provide a benefit. We still won’t agree. What I can tell you, though, is that I take all reasonable precautions. That means wearing a mask when I am around others… We still have to live. Thank God I survived and am here to say that.

I am sorry your friends were rude to you. They probably think you are rude for going into a congested church without a mask on. I share my story with anyone willing to listen because this virus is so deadly if you happen to catch it.

Anyhow, that is my reality.
 
Last edited:
Masks make me feel smothered. Our church requires masks, and I often see people wearing the clear face shields instead. I don’t know if that really makes a difference or not. I just have masks.

The problem is when I am in church, after a little while, my nose starts to run. I have a tendency to get a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. That said, I will not admit to weeping for fear of being called sanctimonious, but just the fact that I need to blow my nose is a big impediment for me to keep my face covered. If I blow my nose, people may think I have this stupid virus and kick me out of the church.
 
Masks are awful. I agree with that.

But being on a ventilator for 6 weeks like i was, as a result of contracting covid, is far worse, I can assure you.
 
My son does feel that it keeps him from breathing. Same for me. The point is do you support masks being mandatory whether they wish to wear it or not? Or do you feel it should be optional?
 
Masks are meant to protect the most vulnerable among us. Sounds pretty just to me.
 
Then by all means wear it. As for me. Forget about it. I want to breathe. I want people to see my face. That is what being human is about, and how things have been done for a few thousand years. You can’t force me to wear it. You have not right to force any of us to wear it.
 
Last edited:
TheLittleLady said:
Masks are meant to protect the most vulnerable among us. Sounds pretty just to me.
Click to expand...
Whether or not they are meant to is not the question. I’m willing to give some benefit of the doubt to the intentions behind it. I could dream up all sorts of laws with rosy intents, and lobby my local mayor or premier to put them into place - they wouldn’t necessarily be just just because they had nice intentions. St. Thomas defines 3 qualities of a just law.

From Prima Secundae Q98 A4 of the Summa: SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The power of human law (Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 96)
  1. Ordained to the common good.
  2. The law does not exceed the power of the lawgiver. (As far as I’m aware this hasn’t actually been determined by precedent yet with the one exception listed below:)
  3. The law must be proportionate.
The argument that these mandates are ordained to the common good seems very weak. The evidence that they actually accomplish what they purport to accomplish is very shaky, with some studies supporting the hypothesis, rather weakly, and many others contradicting it. The whole thing is an unprecedented experiment, and we should not give it undue credit by calling an unproven hypothesis “the science”.

Add the side-effects of wearing masks for long periods of time (such as is practically required for many economically vulnerable in order to get a job), which can actually turn dangerous for some, and the argument that such mandates support the common good gets even weaker. It’s now a documented fact that the overaction of closing the hospitals to “elective” procedures has caused disastrous health side effects. All for nothing, as the first wave never hit to the extent that the insane models predicted. At present, in Ontario, there are a mere 217 hospitalized for this thing in a province of 14.7 million… Is it really proportionate to reduce the daily oxygen intake of millions for eight hours a day over this? How many of these hospitalizations (in a province of 14.7million) would 100% mask compliance have prevented? Maybe one or two?

The exception I referenced: This is a very narrow example, which only applied to the Ontario nurses, not the wider population. But it is one example where a rule-making body was told that such a mask mandate was outside their jurisdiction: My guess is that cases will eventually appear before the actual courts of the land, at which case we’ll have an actual legal precedent.

Union says Ontario nurses can't be forced to wear masks in flu season | CBC News
 
Last edited:
I found this poll very interesting. Interpret it how you wish. I will just say it is evidence at how political this whole mask issue as supposed to “safety”(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
crusadermanj said:
Great article from The Remnant about the occult around the mask mandates
Click to expand...
The Remnant keeps getting further and further off the rails. This article is a great example of when some one needs to remove their own beam of cult-like behavior.
crusadermanj said:
Supporting the mandates means you are on the side of the secularists. Not Christains.
Click to expand...
Again, what the heck?

And the answer is…
… obeying the traffic laws by not running red lights, sticking to the posted speed limits, wearing safety belts, etc.
 
I would be curious to see a study for correlation between political affiliation and the distrust of science. In any case, I really do not concern myself with what other parishes do. I am sure their priests and bishops are doing what they see best for their people.

For us, the requirement for masks is posted at the entrance, and at this point, no one has made an issue with it. Since there is a dispensation from Mass attendance, those that show want to attend Mass and are more than willing to comply.

We have accommodated those that choose not to come with online Mass. We also have a team of people who deliver the Eucharist to shut-in’s and the sick. We try to keep an active on-line community and answer prayer requests. I have no doubt there will be a time of re-building after we return to normal, as the marginal Catholics will be less likely to return to Mass. I have already started considering plans for that.
 
When I had my hip replaced, 5 hour complex procedure, when my husband had part of his heart replaced with a mechanical pump, 12 hour process, I’m happy the medical team wore masks for the common good of the patients.
 
“online Mass” is not Mass sir. You are not on the physical presence of Our Lord. It is not an alternative. At the very least maybe a parish can offer a Mass where masks are required and another where it is optional. What about that idea?

Just because it is your opinion that masks are ok and thus you think its silly that we think that the mandates are forcing us from NOT attending does not make you the arbiter of truth here. People see things different ways. From my research and experience, the face cover prevents you from breathing properly, is socially awkward, and very de-humanizing. Not the situation to feel welcome at a church.
 
Last edited:
crusadermanj said:
“online Mass” is not Mass sir.
Click to expand...
Sure, it is. It is not acting. It does not count for Mass attendance, so it is not an alternative to fulfill an obligation. But Pope Francis himself has been televising his daily Mass.

www.vaticannews.va

Pope Francis' morning Mass broadcast live every day - Vatican News

Pope Francis has decided that his daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta will be broadcast live, so as to be close to all those who are suffering from the ...
www.vaticannews.va www.vaticannews.va
crusadermanj said:
Just because it is your opinion that masks are ok…
Click to expand...
What I said was my parish has a sign saying masks were required. I only know what we are doing, and that no one has balked at it.
 
I looked at the Pew Research article to see who was more likely to disregard all the sciency stuff. It was notably white, younger, less educated, and Republican.
 
TheLittleLady said:
When I had my hip replaced, 5 hour complex procedure, when my husband had part of his heart replaced with a mechanical pump, 12 hour process, I’m happy the medical team wore masks for the common good of the patients.
Click to expand...
The world is not an operating room.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top