It is Sunday, the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas or if you follow the new calendar, the Feast of the Holy Family. It is also the Feast of St. John the Evangelist.
It is Sunday and in the Archdiocese of Toronto and most the Province of Ontario except for the Diocese of St. Catharines led by Bishop Bergie, there is
He really does a good impression of the Soup Nazi.
What should Cardinal Collins have done?
Forget court. It is too late for that, he would be laughed out. He should have done this in March, he accepted the law, no matter how unjust or ridiculous.
Let us consider the current Ontario "lockdown." Chairman Douglas Ford, General-secretary of the Ontario Politburo has reduced church attendance from 30% to a hard number of 10, that is correct, 10! Even the cathedral as you can see one post below. Idiocy. Walmart, Costco and Pearson International Airport are swamped with people but there is no Mass for you.
St. Thomas More, someone whom Collins loves to quote, would have advised the bishops of his day to give due respect to the King and his Law. Give the devil his due as long as you do not sin. Let's work with ten.
1. No matter the challenge, each pastor and secretary develop a list of people and a rotation, whatever works for them and their parish. Parishioners are expected to show patience and respect that fairness for attending is critical.
2. No public Holy Communion. Those of us in the Latin Mass communities have been doing without since March rather than receive on the hand. In the community where I am choir director and Cantor, we lost about 24% when we came back in June. Guess what? Since September, and Christmas morning was our largest yet, we have more people coming than we did pre-China virus We made up for all those who refuse to come back or left for the SSPX which is now also limited by the Ford diktats, and then some. Something else? They come, more and more and they know they cannot have Holy Communion.
3. Holy Communion is by appointment only on the tongue, if requested, because the priest can wear a mask and wash his hands with soap and water before and after. Simple.
4. Limit the homily to three minutes.
5. Every priest is authorised to offer up to five Masses. Two priests in a parish, that is ten Masses.
There, done.
The four ends of the Mass. - Adoration to God, thanksgiving to God for his blessings, the seeking of forgiveness for our sins and petitioning for our needs. Note that the first two are focused on Him, not us. The great error on Collins' part is the thelogy of assemblyism. Odd, considering his motto is "Adore God."
Now, Your Eminence, find those two parts and get on with it. Enough of your cowardice in the face of evil.
2 comments:
But you concede too much. What a Cardinal who knows his job would do is say, “I was mistaken to go along with this. Mass will be held as usual, with masks optional. Those who feel unsafe are not required to attend.” As long as you concede on masks, you’re admitting there is a pandemic that is only properly dealt with by wearing masks. That of course ignores thousands of years of human experience. The virus must be allowed to run its course without these bizarre behaviors that are designed to induce fear - and are very good at that, if nothing else. As long as we say there is a pandemic that requires unheard of accommodations, then the Cardinal is just being more cautious than you think he should be about a virus that you’re both treating as something deserving of great fear.
You make a good point about the virus. The only way to really beat it is to let it run its course. Protect the weak and vulnerable as much as possible and let’s get on with life.
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