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"Bishops, we your faithful flock, implore you to do
everything you can to make the sacraments more available to us during this
crisis."
This impassioned plea to the bishops of the United States came my way this morning in the form of an open letter. I signed, recognising that it applies just as well to the horrible situation here in New Zealand, where coronaphobia has sent our bishops into a spin, cancelling public Masses, locking the churches and denying the faithful the Sacraments.
In Holy Week. It's demonic.
In Holy Week. It's demonic.
You may wish to sign the letter, too. Many prominent lay Catholics in the US, including Dr Peter Kwasniewski, have already done so.
The letter continues:
"Something is terribly wrong with
a culture that allows abortion clinics and liquor stores to remain open but
shuts down places of worship. While
safety and cooperation with civil authorities is necessary, we must do
everything we can to have access to what is essential for our spiritual
lives. We should certainly not
voluntarily deprive ourselves of the sacraments.
Please, Bishops:
1. Find ways
that you and your priests can provide the Anointing of the Sick, especially to
those at risk of dying.
2. If a state
or local government prohibits priests from ministering to the sick in the
hospital or in their homes, make a personal and formal request of civic leaders
to permit such ministry with assurances that all due precautions will be taken.
3. Demand
that civil authorities recognize religious services as essential services.
4. Demand
that civil authorities permit events such as offering and attending a Mass in a
parking lot, if they are currently prohibited.
5. Do
everything you can to make possible some form of a public Mass, especially the
Easter liturgy, and then encourage pastors to conduct it.
6. Offer the
Mass yourself in public, especially the Easter liturgy.
7. Do
everything you can to find a safe way of distributing the Eucharist, with due
precautions.
8. Do
everything you can to enable parish churches and shrines to remain open for
prayer and adoration, with due precautions.
9. Inform
your flock of your efforts and of whatever is done to advance the greater
availability of the sacraments.
We must use the means Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and His Holy Catholic Church have provided us to combat the evils of this
world.
The Bishops, our Spiritual
Fathers, must take active and public roles in bringing to our wounded world, the
sacramental graces needed to survive the COVID 19 pandemic.
We assure you of our ardent prayers and sacrifices."
We Are An Easter People <contact@weareaneasterpeople.com>
Teresa Coles says:
ReplyDeleteIt would be so lovely to be able to enter our churches here in New Zealand,especially now at Easter ..If we kept our distance from one another like they do in the supermarket’s...Even to walking around to make the Stations of the Cross without touching the pews,at least we would be visiting the Blessed Sacrament ,which we all miss so much.
Bob Gill says:
Right from the start we have wondered if it’s okay for lines of people at the supermarket and limited numbers inside to shop, why can’t we apply the same principle to church services? Even if no Communion was allowed at Mass we would have the opportunity to make Spiritual Communion in His presence.
If, and I say if because I don’t know if this is true, priest and Communicant have normal temperatures and are thus deemed free from Covid19, Communion can be given. If there was a need to be perfectly safe, Communion could be given using a disposable plastic spoon. There’s probably a better way to do it; we just need to think outside the box.
Please, can just one priest stick his neck out and pester the bishops to tackle the powers that be on our behalf to insist that church IS an essential service?
I was wondering the other day if we might see any terrorist attacks on our Churches this Easter as we have seen in the past. Then it dawned on me that this bioweapon Covid 19(84) is that terror attack and has done a perfect job of sweeping our Churches clean of any Easter worshippers. Pretty simple plan, yell 'bug!' and everyone scatters. Time to gird the loins and face this thing with a bit of faith and courage.. Come on Bishops!! If we can buy bread, can we not also break Bread??
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