A close follower of CF (thank you, M) found a map constructed by Eric Sammons, showing in black the US dioceses which have shut down the public Mass. That top map is dated on March 16 th at 7:30 PM. The next map is dated March 17 th at 9:30 PM, just over a day apart. So, maybe it’s worth taking a Florida vacation now for spiritual survival?
On second thought, apparently a Florida vacation would not have accomplished much after all!
It is now midnight, at the threshold of the Feast of St. Joseph, and every diocese in the USA has turned out the lights, literally and figuratively. The score in “We can fix this ourselves” vs. “Prayerful Trust in God” is 50:0. No U.S. diocese has chosen to rely fully on Christ, although a few may have come close.
LifeSiteNews recounted the words of wisdom of Cardinal Burke, one of the two remaining dubia cardinals, and one of the world’s foremost defenders of Catholic orthodoxy. His Eminence reminded Catholics of the power of prayer and God’s sovereignty: “The prolonged assault of the coronavirus naturally leads to sadness and fear, but we know that Christ is the Lord of nature and of history. Using natural means to defend ourselves against the pestilence, we do not forget our primary means of defense: prayer, especially the rosary and Eucharistic adoration.”
Implicit in the 50:0 score is an almost unspoken attribution of the devastatingly high death rate in Italy as somehow related to actions (or lack of action) by the laity in Italy and therefore they are ‘locked out’ in America and elsewhere too. It’s a selling out of trust in the laity; it is a kind of spiritual scapegoating. It is also a marvelous opportunity missed to truly deepen the faith of weaker Catholics by involving them in being part of the solution, and not the problem.
But if not the laity’s fault, then where do we look for the cause? What I’d hinted at earlier seems on the increase; the reason for the Italian disproportion in fatalities involves, in some way, the Vatican’s selling out of the underground Catholics of China. See Church Militant article: https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-catholics-china-and-covid-19
The anxiety and angst of “suspending” Masses shows in correspondence of Abp. Alexander Sample of the Diocese of Portland OR. LifesiteNews reported just days ago that Sample had written to his flock: “The celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we encounter the mystery of our redemption, are nourished by God’s Word, and receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. For these reasons, the Church places a grave obligation for the faithful to participate at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. This fulfills the Lord’s command to ‘keep holy the Sabbath.’” Sample, in so doing, courageously opposed Oregon’s governor, who had prohibited large public gatherings. However, within days, as the governor changed the maximum attendance from 25 to 10 persons, even Abp. Sample joined in the suspension of Masses, expressing great personal pain in doing so. For Abp. Sample’s correspondence, click here:
One wonders now, if Abp. Alexander K. Sample, J.C.L. could have imagined the race riots which would hit his diocese within a few months of his letter terminating public Masses, if he might not have had “second thoughts” about the “need” for the Mass.