Posted on 04/02/2020 6:02:27 PM PDT by marshmallow
The Archbishop of Miami on Wednesday strongly told his priests not to conduct any drive-by confessions, no palm pickups in front of church for Palm Sunday and no in-person Masses on Easter Sunday.
“It is not prudent for parishes to plan any activity that would encourage people to leave their homes,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski wrote in a statement he delivered to his priests Wednesday morning. “Therefore, parishes are not to offer ‘drive-through’ palms, confessions or Holy Communion or any similar type of activity.”
He said the activities would be curtailed over the next two weeks, including through Holy Week, which begins Sunday with Palm Sunday, continues through Holy Thursday and Good Friday and culminates with Easter Sunday on April 12.
A few hours later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told people they could congregate at houses of worship, which he exempted from his mandatory stay-at-home order, which goes into effect at 12:01 early Friday morning and expires on April 30.
A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese said Thursday that the curtailment of services still stands for the Miami Archdiocese, the largest in the state with 1.3 million parishioners and 109 churches. In fact, Mary Ross Agosta said the Archdiocese told its priests on March 18 to curtail all regular services, and Wenski’s Wednesday letter only reinforces that as Holy Week is set to commence.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
It’s common sense.
Never before, in the history of Christianity, have the Hierarchy essentially placed entire continents under the Interdict.
It is NOT normal for churches to lock their doors. It is NOT normal to deny the faithful the Sacraments, especially in times of plague when they need them more than ever. It is NOT normal to make these decisions on the basis of fear, be it fear of insurance liability, fear of civil authorities who are becoming increasingly uncivil, or fear of one’s own personal safety.
Jesus commanded Peter to “feed my sheep” and immediately warned him that in so doing, Peter would ultimately be carried off to a place where he did not wish to go.
If our shepherds are unwilling to walk the way of St. Gregory the Great who led a procession through the streets of Rome against the plague, much less to walk the way of Peter the Apostle, then perhaps they should be relegated to being “fishers of the deep”.
You’ll get sick if you gather at a restaurant, but not if you gather in a packed house of worship. I’m writing this in my journal. Nice to have a professional tell me “how viruses spread” while in these trying times.
Um, no. It's common sense to realize that you cannot control billions of ubiquitous organisms that you cannot see, feel or touch.
A great PR move would be for local stations to offer free airtime for the local archdiocese to broadcast the service.
I wonder how many people are aware of the trillions of bacteria that are living in your gut right now that could cause sepsis if they leaked into your abdominal cavity. Also that these same bacteria are required for living.
I hope for the best.
I wrote to my bishop here in Florida (not Miami) and begged him to let the priests have public masses, even outside in the parking lot where you could maintain all the “social distancing” you want. People are panicking and freaking out and they need to see their shepherds. Heck, I think
even people who aren’t Christian would feel so much better if the churches were open and services were being held in a publicly visible place. The parish YouTube doesn’t cut it.
I got an immediate snotty letter from the chancellor telling me about how a football player here had gotten it (he recovered) and how they couldn’t put people at risk. For Pete’s sake. The churches are putting people at risk of major personal and social disruption by vanishing from the scene just when they’re needed.
Most of the dioceses and archdioceses are going online via YouTube. That will start with Holy Thursday and go through the Easter Sunday Masses.
Easter IS the most important Sunday of the liturgical year.
We need a new hierarchy.
And it's a crying shame.
good the right person made the decision
Are you speaking of DeSantis or the apostate, Wenski?
The church should and did make the decision whatever you call him.
Who is "him"? If it's Wenski, he is not the church.
an archbishop has the authority no matter what you call him
It's amazing that Pope Francis remains silent on his bishops witholding the sacraments from the faithful, while others are not.
I guess this is Bergoglio's idea of "synodality", aka anarchy.
nom one said God didn’t have the ultimate authority on anything. I believe he has delegated it. You’re off issue here because you re wrong. . It’s the gov or the archbishop on this and i made my choice. defend yours
I already have, I'll obey God's Ten Commandments, not some apostate dictatorbishop's orders.
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