Updated: June 16, 2020 5:20 P.M.
The current situation with the beginning of Mass in Ontario is one of great distress due to the orders that Holy Communion only be by the hand. This is not how Archbishop Michael Miller, CSB of Vancouver has handled this question stating, "The faithful have the right to receive Communion in the hand
or on the tongue." The Ontario's bishops are a different lot - they are much wiser and much more health conscious and no doubt, have been whipped by lawyers!
On June 15, 2020, this was made public by Father Brendan McGrath a priest in the Diocese of Hamilton and a chaplain for the "extraordinary form" of the Roman Rite.
I want you to read that third paragraph again.
I have reached out to Father McGrath to explain this inflammatory and hyperbolic rhetoric and he has not responded. I have asked him to justify this quotation and provide evidence to its veracity. He has not.
If true, this statement represents an intervention unseen in the Church in Canada in her history. It is akin to the French Revolution and it is unconstitutional. As much of it pains me to state it, Father Brendan McGrath has committed a grievous act by this statement and he must either lay out proof for this or retract it.
Why do I say that?
Because last Sunday, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter parish in Thorold, Ontario and the Society of St. Pius X in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario all had Mass, and all followed the Province of Ontario's emergency regulations and all distributed Holy Communion on the tongue, the SSPX, after Mass.
Further, I have for you to read now, below, the actual documentation from the province made available to Catholic and Protestant Ministers across Ontario and nowhere is this threat made.
The Government of Ontario under legitimate authority has reduced occupancy to 30%. That is it. They have mandated nothing else. Is Father McGrath suggesting that Douglas Ford, the Premier of Ontario made covert threats to the Cardinal and Bishops in Ontario? If so, this is global news. That is the potential of McGrath's statement. If anyone is responsible for this; if anyone has threatened the existence of the traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Hamilton and Ontario, it is Douglas Crosby, OMI, the Bishop of Hamilton, not the Premier of Ontario.
We have written to the Premier of Ontario, Douglas Ford and two of his communication staff and requested comment.
After reaching out today (June 16, 2020 to Mr. Neil MacCarthy, Director, Public Relations and Communications for the Archdiocese of Toronto, the following comment has been received:
"Quite simply, the advice regarding the distribution of communion is coming from medical experts (both those consulted by the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario and those in various municipal and provincial health jurisdictions) with extensive experience in pandemic containment, management and prevention."
"For this reason, acting responsibly for the common good, and conscious of Our Lord’s command to love our neighbour, Cardinal Collins and the other Ontario bishops have decided that on the basis of the best current medical information, and to protect other people, it is necessary to temporarily suspend the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue at this time."
This is consistent with what I have been told from other Dioceses. Why is Father McGrath intimating the black hand of government when it is clear, the medical experts consulted, and no doubt the lawyers, made these recommendations - the government simply required thirty percent!
McGrath must reveal the truth and his source or he must retract this statement and be held to account for this and the blatant accusation of governmental overreach for which there is no evidence other than one man's unproven and inflammatory rhetoric of epic proportions in the history of Canada.