Earlier this year with the China Virus raging and little known about it, (yes, the virus is real, it is not good, masks help, wash your hands as mom told you, don't touch your face... yada, yada) the government of Canada, as in the United States and presumably elsewhere, turned on the press and deflected the bill to our grandchildren not yet born.
Here are some quotes from Mr. MacCarthy the Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Toronto.
“The longer churches have to remain closed, then there are certainly financial implications, especially for smaller parishes that don’t have the same sort of financial support as some of our larger ones,” said Neil MacCarthy, the director of public relations and communications at the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. “We’re also trying to maintain as many ministries as we can with outreach to the vulnerable.”
“Churches rely on the generosity of their parishioners to maintain their operations day-to-day and those expenses don’t necessarily go away when you’ve got the church closed. You’re still heating the church and you’re still paying the water bill,” said MacCarthy.
“These are these are spiritual hubs. They’re community hubs. They’re outreach hubs. And so those kinds of solutions and creative solutions would be good points of discussion for government and faith communities,” said MacCarthy.
Your Eminence, if you can open churches for ten people for private prayer then why can you not open it to just nine and the priest can offer Mass?
3 comments:
The SSPX cancelled Sunday Mass but are allowing people to come to daily Masses within the 10 person limit.
They also continue to allow booking appointments for confession and communion.
Just goes to show what the diocese could be doing to continue providing sacraments to people and still be compliant with restrictions.
I have first hand confirmation that the SSPX in Toronto is offering public Sunday Mass. There was confusing email sent out. It is obviously a challenging time to select ten, but it can be done. Why is St. Mark's up the street not doing it?
Sadly, the institutional Church has largely been awol since mid-March. Telling people to just watch Mass on Youtube or on Zoom doesn't quite cut it. Sure, it's better than nothing, but it's not the same.
As well, what happens to all those people who need the Church for physical sustenance, or for the fellowship of community meals? Sadly, the Roman Catholic Church largely shut out those people, with locked doors.
Today, restaurants in much of Ontario (except Peel & Toronto) are open for dine-in service, but our churches are (with a few bold exceptions) not resuming community meals. Many are closed for private prayer. Beyond the supernatural element to this, there is also the sociological element. When life gets back to normal, will everyone start returning to church again??
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