Posted on 04/09/2020 3:28:04 PM PDT by ebb tide
"Open the churches, Your Excellencies. Follow the guidelines until April 30th but, in the meantime, do not let the anti-God, anti-family and anti-life secular state lock us out of the very places where hope springs eternal and where men are emboldened by God Himself to resist oppression. For God's sake, open our churches and let our priests bring the Lumen Christi to dispel the tenebrae of fear and debilitating panic. Trust in Almighty God, not the World Health Organization. For God's sake and the future of our country, open the churches now!" - Michael J. Matt
Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, USMC, was the most decorated and famed Marine of World War II, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant General. There is not a US Marine today who is unfamiliar with the history and the exploits of this legendary officer.As a regimental and then battalion commander in the South Pacific, Puller was on the receiving end of various complaints registered against his Catholic chaplains.
It seems that many Protestant marines, to the consternation of their chaplains, were eschewing their own services and attending those of the Catholics. At one point, a group of Protestant ministers requested from the commander that he issue a regulation requiring Catholics to attend Catholic Mass and Protestants to only attend Protestant services, that no crossing over between denominations was to be allowed.
Puller also received letters from more than one displeased mother complaining that Catholic priests were taking their Protestant sons and turning them into “Romans.”
“Chesty’s” answer was always pretty much the same to all objections. Although an Episcopalian, he was adamant in proclaiming that the Catholic chaplains were always at the side of the men in the midst of combat. When artillery shells were ripping bodies apart and bullets were killing and maiming, it was the Catholic priest in the midst of the carnage offering comfort and the Last Rites.
While the Protestant ministers could often be found at headquarters (Puller’s words, not mine) during a conflict – perhaps concerned about wives and families in the States – the priests were on the front lines, suffering and dying along the side of their “boys.” His answer to the complaints of the Protestant chaplains was for them to imitate the priests in their bravery and their flocks would return.
After the war, Puller complained to an Episcopalian bishop that the Episcopalian chaplains were of the lowest quality while the Catholic Church sent only their best, their most courageous, their most patriotic men. We Catholics know, however, there was no such initiative; these men were simply the natural product of the strict, spiritual, military-type training they were exposed to in the seminary. It was just a normal outcome for them to immerge manly and self-sacrificing. It was part of the atmosphere, and they imbibed it well.
Many readers of this article are familiar with Father Vincent Capodanno, the Navy chaplain assigned to various Marine units in Vietnam, and who was affectionately known to his men as “The Grunt Padre.” One has to appreciate the love and devotion attached to this seemingly innocuous title. It signified that when “grunts” were in a fight, when death and danger were in the air, their Padre – their Grunt Padre – was beside them providing comfort and, in many cases, eternal salvation.
A Remnant Video on Fr. Capodanno:
On September 4th, 1967, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, the unit Father was assigned to, was ambushed and came under intense enemy fire. A navy corpsman rushed to the aid of one of the wounded, and both were subsequently pinned down with unrelenting machine gun fire. Although wounded himself, Fr. Capodanno rushed to their side. When his dead body was recovered, it was found to be riddled with no fewer than 27 bullet holes. He was literally cut to pieces. There was no shortage of moist eyes among the bloodied “grunts” when word spread like lightening throughout the battalion that their Padre had been killed. Among Father’s citations were the Congressional Medal of Honor (posthumously), the Navy Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. There have been countless chapels, halls, buildings, etc., named in honor of the heroic priest, and perhaps none more honorable than the frigate, USS Capodanno, whose motto is “Duty with Honor.”
Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet, SJ is little known today, but in happier and more truthful times would be the subject of his own chapter in histories of the American West. Father’s bravery and virtue were attested to by none other than Sitting Bull himself, and when the Sioux nations signed the historic peace treaty of 1868, they agreed to do so only if Fr. De Smet were to be present. He was described by one of the chiefs as “the white man whose tongue does not lie” and “more powerful than an army.”
These holy and heroic priests are being mentioned, not because of their individual bravery and heroism, but rather because they represent the natural fruition of the training imparted to them in their seminary formation. “Spiritual boot camp” may perhaps be an apt description. The pros and cons of the methods employed may be debated, but what is without question is the fact that what immerged from the process was a man in the truest sense of the word, a man dedicated to others.
That was then ... this is now.
The emasculation of the priesthood is no secret to the readers of this publication, but the fact has never been more in evidence, more on public display than at this present time of trial. The prelates and clerics who were most diligent in transforming the Mass of Ages, the most glorious ritual in all of Christendom, into a hug fest and celebration of community, are now cowering behind locked doors, afraid to hear Confessions, afraid to offer sacraments, just simply… afraid. Where are the effete priests who love to sashay around the altar (table) hugging all the ladies in the sanctuary and whose favorite part of the Mass appears to be the “sign of peace?” In more than just a few instances, they have gone AWOL – “over the hill.”
There are many sincere priests in our midst (both of the Traditional and Novus Ordo variety) who are striving with much ingenuity to bring the sacraments to the faithful. This essay is being written in the middle of Passion Week. On Passion Sunday, a stalwart priest offered no fewer than eight different sessions of Eucharistic adoration, Confession, and Communion. The number eight was chosen to keep the attendance low enough to be within the guidelines of the secular authorities. This Friday – First Friday and the feast of The Seven Sorrows – we will be attending Mass in a home, offered by a priest who will be driving 210 miles round trip to make it available. These are priests who, I am certain, would be willing to brave bullets if there was a soul to be saved.
I would submit that the ones who are missing in action should be shunned, ridiculed, and abandoned. They are cowards at best and traitors at worst. They are worthy of nothing but contempt. When this all passes, and it will, they will return with smiles and hugs, hoping that no one will remember that when they were needed the most, they were invisible. They were back at headquarters while the troops were under fire.
I am not suggesting that priests should defy the secular regulations which are changing and escalating by the day; my aim is to decry the horror of cardinals and bishops actually locking their churches to individuals seeking to pray in the Presence of the Lord, and who are actually forbidding Confessions, Baptisms, and Communions. Many of the initiatives to close churches and cut the faithful off from the sacraments were taken well in advance of any secular directives. What an abomination! Admonitions from Pope St. Gregory the Great or St. Charles Borromeo would be very apropos to the situation, as they were intimately involved with plague in their times. The difference, however, is that they believed in the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; that sins needed to be forgiven and priests have the power to absolve; and that Baptism is necessary for salvation. Today, more than ever, is revealed the fact that many clerics (from the highest to the lowest) are not just sinful (who’s not?) but they, in all reality, do not believe; they have either lost the Faith or never had it from the beginning.
There are many private Masses being offered while churches are closed, and I, in no way, will insinuate that it is just the Latin Mass being said. But what I will say is that the point of reference in the Latin Mass – God offering the ultimate Sacrifice to God through His minister the priest – is much easier to accommodate to a private Mass or to a Mass in time of suffering than the protestantized version with its emphasis on community celebration and communal meal. It just does not seem to jive. I think it was Dr. Peter Kwasniewski who offered the prescient observation many years ago that the Novus Ordo was for Happy Kats. One may strive to inculcate the four aims of the Liturgy – Adoration, Reparation, Thanksgiving, Petition – into the offering of the New Mass, but it must be worked at, while it is integral to the Mass of the Ages.
Maybe this crisis can act as an inspiration to devout priests who have never said the Latin Mass to look into it, study the history of it, learn the significance of every ritual, every gesture, and – what would be the clincher --- to learn the history of the intrigues behind its demise. (Martin Luther detested the popish Offertory, but I can say with assurance that he would be perfectly comfortable with the “spiritual drink” of the Eucharistic Prayer being offered and consumed today.) Perhaps this time of crisis could present itself as a time of introspection and discernment. God will certainly reveal how to serve Him with “Duty and Honor.”
To wives and mothers whose husbands and sons have abandoned the Faith: Boys with red blood in their veins and husbands with an ample supply of testosterone are turned off by effete priests, with hugging and hand-holding, with introducing oneself to the same people you’ve been sitting next to in the same pew for years, and with sermons whose most sublime message is to be nice and not kick the cat. They need a ritual that does not require checking their masculinity at the door, one that will offer ammunition for combat. Pray and offer sacrifices for their conversion, and maybe, just maybe, (if your prayers and sacrifices are sincere) they will one day encounter that real priest offering the Real Sacrifice.
To all who see the rot in the Church and want to call it quits: The Old Testament is replete with the sinfulness of the Hebrew nation, with unfaithful priests and sinful kings, but that was not reason to abandon, what was then, the True Faith. Hang in there! Our Lord and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will bring us to safety.
To all young men and women who have been raised in the never/never/land of a happy church without sacrifice and without suffering. Abandon the idea of a happy/clappy religion where we all skip merrily along the Yellow Brick Road to heaven without trial, without tribulation. We are in a warfare against demons who hate us, and that for no other reason than we are created and loved by God, whom they hate with undying venom.
To all: Hang in there! The Mother of God and the Mother of the Church just happens to be Our Mother also.
Ping
Time for some tele-church.
THE RISING DEATH TOLL
The first active cases in the District were reported in September 1918. Between September 21–26, six people succumbed to the flu. On September 26, Health Officer Dr. W. C. Fowler warned the public to be cautious about influenza but said he did not yet expect a full-on pandemic.[2] He was wrong. The next day saw three more deaths and 42 new cases.[3] From that point on, cases multiplied rapidly and deaths followed shortly thereafter.
When 162 new cases were reported on October 1, city officials took action. Public schools were ordered to close indefinitely and operating hours for stores were limited to 10 AM to 6 PM.[5] More closings followed in the next few days. On October 3, private schools and beaches were ordered to be closed. On October 4, the number of cases spiked; 618 new cases were reported. As a result, the city Health Officer Dr. Fowler called for additional bans on public gatherings, including church services, playgrounds, theaters, dance halls, and other places of amusement.
On October 4, the headline of the DC-based The Evening Star read “Churches Closed While Influenza Threatens in D.C.” According to official documentation, the formal request used the following language:
Whereas the surgeon general of the United States public health service and the health officer of the District of Columbia have advised the Commissioners of the District of Columbia that indoor public assemblages constitute a public menace at this time; therefore, be it ordered by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia that the clergy be requested to omit all church services until further action by the Commissioners.[6]
THE RESPONSE OF PASTORS
DC churches responded by calling an emergency meeting of the Protestant ministers on Saturday, October 5. There, they “voted unanimously to accede to the request of the District Commissioners that churches be closed in the city.”[7] As The Evening Star reported the next day that the “Pastors Federation of Washington” would comply with and support the safety measures called for by the city.[8] Gathering at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, the pastors released the following statement:
Resolved, in view of the prevailing condition of our city (the widespread prevalence of influenza, that has called forth the request from the District of Columbia Commissioners for the temporary closing of all churches) we, the Pastors’ Federation, in special assembly, do place ourselves on record as cheerfully complying with the request of the Commissioners, which, we understand applies to all churches alike. We furthermore recommend that our people shall conduct in their own homes some form of religious worship remembering in prayer especially the sick, our allied nations at war and the present canvass for the fourth liberty loan.[9]
A gathering of representatives from 131 African-American churches decided likewise to abandon services. Although responses to this order were mixed, churches demonstrated a unified response by complying with the directives of the DC government.
The Saturday, October 5 edition of The Evening Star listed all of the church services for the following day. Most headings simply stated: “no services.”[10] Some churches listed longer messages in their newspaper advertisements, explaining their choice to gather outdoors instead. One Presbyterian Church explained their cancellation of services in the following way:
Inasmuch as it has seemed wise to the Commissioners of the District, after careful consideration of the question, to prohibit the gathering of the people on Sunday in their accustomed places of worship, may I suggest that at the usual hour of morning service you gather in your homes and unite in common prayer to the God of Nations and of families, that He will guide us in all wisdom in this time of trial, that our physicians and public officers may be led in their performance of duty and be strengthened by divine help, that the people may be wise and courageous, each in his place. Let us never forget that “Help cometh from the lord which made heaven and earth.” Behold He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.[11]
OUTDOOR PUBLIC SERVICES
One way some churches managed to technically comply with DC regulations while continuing to meet was to obtain permits to gather outdoors. Examining the “Church Notices” section of newspapers at the time shows that many churches opted to gather outdoors on October 6—some in front of their buildings, others in public parks.[12]
The Washington Times reported the same on October 6: “With the closing of churches by the Commissioners the pastors of the city have arranged for outdoor services.”[14] Another paper reported the day before,
All churches will be closed tomorrow. Open air services will be substituted wherever possible. Numerous permits have been obtained to hold services in various Government parks in the city. These open air services will continue each Sunday until such, time as the District Commissioners decide the influenza epidemic is sufficiently abated to warrant resumption of meetings in church buildings.[15]
While churches were forbidden from gathering indoors, there was still the possibility of obtaining permits to gather outdoors.[16]
THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S RESPONSE
This move by churches to hold services outdoors was not well received by District Health Commissioner Brownlow, who on October 9 ordered the ban on public meetings to include outdoor church gatherings.[17] “This order includes all indoor and outdoor services in churches,” Commissioner Brownlow said. “No outdoor gatherings will be allowed.”[18]
OPPOSITION TO THE BAN ON CHURCH GATHERINGS
Churches responded by complying with this additional restriction on outdoor gatherings. Over the following weeks, the number of new cases and deaths from the virus kept increasing in D.C., reaching its peak on October 18 when 91 deaths were reported in a 24 hour period along with 934 new cases—including the DC Commissioner, Louis Brownlow. Then, slowly, the influenza began to decline. The number of deaths reported in a 24-hour period declined to 28 on October 28, and the number of new cases declined to 235.[19]
As these numbers began to decline, churches started to argue for a lifting of the ban. On October 25, an opinion piece on the Friday edition of The Star argued that churches should be transferred from the prohibited to the regulated class of gatherings, such as war workers in factories. The author listed two reasons:
(1) Because intelligent stringent regulation can prevent absolutely the crowding of the church edifices and can eliminate or reduce to a minimum the danger of germ distribution through such assemblages; and (2) Because the purposes of church assemblages are such as to entitle them to be the very last to be absolutely forbidden by the civil authorities.[20]
According to the author, church gatherings should only be prohibited when absolutely necessary because prohibiting church gatherings constitutes a threat to religious liberty:
Except in case of absolute, demonstrated unavoidable necessity public worship in the churches should not be prohibited by the civil authorities, because there is involved a certain infringement in spirit and effect of the free exercise of religious liberty. The authorities know that through national and civil loyalty their prohibitive order will be obeyed. [However] they should be reluctant to prevent men and women from doing that which their consciences and, in the belief of some of them, God’s command impel them to do.[21]
Additionally, the author argues that church gatherings actually have a positive effect of fighting the influenza:
In the influence of the churches upon the minds and souls of men, in quieting through strengthened faith in God the panic and fear in which epidemic thrives, the churches are potential anti-influenza workers, fit to co-operate helpfully with our doctors and our nurses, of whose fine record in these times that try men’s souls we are all justly proud.[22]
This author wasn’t the only one who opposed the ban on church gatherings. The very next day, October 26, another article reports that “strong pleas” were made to Health Officer Fowler and the Surgeon General by the Protestant Pastors Federation of Washington, DC. This group, which had exactly three weeks earlier voted to abide by the city’s restrictions on church gatherings, now sought unsuccessfully to obtain permission to gather for worship the following day. According to one newspaper, “The members of the delegation were told that until the health authorities feel fully assured that all danger of the spread of infection through large public gatherings has disappeared the ban would not be lifted.”[23] The Commissioners released a statement in response explaining that they did not “desire to interfere any longer than is made necessary by unusual conditions with the regular assemblage of the people in their churches.” However, they indicated no move to lift the general ban on all public gatherings, including churches, theaters, and moving picture houses until the influence of the influenza had abated.[24]
In a letter to the editor in that evening’s edition of The Evening Star, Rev. Randolph H. McKim, pastor of the Church of the Epiphany in Washington DC, protested the continued ban on church gatherings.[25] In the opinion piece, he argued in strong terms that “nothing has so contributed to that state of panic which has gripped this community as the fact that the normal religious life of our city has been disorganized.” He further protested that when the Federation of Pastors met with the City Commissioners to consider the matter, the Commissioners reasoned purely on “materialistic grounds.” No weight or consideration was given to the power of prayer or the comfort against anxiety that church gatherings would provide. In the authors’ words, “That prayer had any efficacy in the physical world was an idea that was given no hospitality” by the Commissioners.[26]
Letters and appeals from pastors to the Commissioners to lift the ban continued for several more days as deaths and new cases continued to decline. One Baptist minister, Pastor J. Milton Waldron, published an editorial on October 29, writing on behalf of “the eleven hundred members of Shiloh Baptist Church.” In the article, Pastor Waldron expresses his members’ concern that the city officials are carelessly “interfering with the freedom of religious worship.” In particular, his people feel that “the authorities are woefully lacking in reverence to God and wanting in a correct knowledge of the character and mission of the church when they place it in the same class with poolrooms, dance halls, moving picture places, and theaters.” As Waldron puts it, “The Christian church is not a luxury, but a necessity to the life and perpetuity of any nation.”[27]
THE BAN LIFTED
Then, finally, on October 29 the Commissioners released an order to lift the ban:
That the operation of the Commissioners’ order of October 4, 1918, requesting the clergy of Washington to omit all church services until further action by the Commissioners, be terminated on Thursday, October 31, 1918.
According to the DC health officer Dr. Fowler, conditions were such now that he felt assured by the fall in the death rate and the reduction in the number of new cases that “it was safe to open the churches this week [Thursday] and the opening of the theaters, schools, and other public gathering places Monday.”[28] A few churches placed advertisements in the Wednesday, October 30 edition of The Star announcing the resumption of services. For instance, Calvary Baptist Church announced that it would be resuming its mid-week prayer meeting on Thursday, October 31 as well as regular services on Sunday, November 3.[29]
On that first Sunday, the Reverend J. Francis Grimke preached a powerful sermon that was later published and distributed, “Some Reflections: Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza that Afflicted Our City.”[30] In the sermon, Grimke acknowledges that there was “considerable grumbling” on the part of some regarding the closing of churches. However, he offered a defense of the ban on gatherings:
The fact that the churches were places of religious gathering, and the others not, would not affect in the least the health question involved. If avoiding crowds lessens the danger of being infected, it was wise to take the precaution and not needlessly run in danger, and expect God to protect us.[31]
In conclusion, the influenza of 1918 provides an example of how churches in Washington DC responded to a public health crisis and government orders to close churches. During one of the worst epidemics to ever hit our country, churches respected the directives of the government for a limited time out of neighborly love and in order to protect public health. Even when churches began to disagree with the Commissioners’ perspective, they continued to abide by their orders. This demonstrates a place for freedom of speech and advocacy while respecting and submitting to governing authorities.
There were a few churches that remained open in Sacramento County. Actually, I think that one had closed but members were meeting in homes. They were about a third of the positive cases in the county up to that time according to the Sacramento Bee. Recently there was a church in Roseville (a suburb of Sacramento) that also had remained open. They called the police because there was a suspicious package left in front of the church. These people are not winning over non-believers. Not when they endanger others.
You can't Skype or phone-in a confession, you can't consecrate the Blessed Sacrament at home, you can't be anointed by proxy. It is not just a regulation, a custom, or a policy. It is a consequence of the Incarnation.
Bookmark
Sorry...have to disagree. My BIL is a primitive Baptist preacher. My sister talked him out of holding services even though he wanted to. Told her to tell him he’d be sleeping in his workshop if he did it.
I did a driving tour of county seats in Tidewater Virginia a few years ago, and stopped in the tiny town of Saluda, where the Middlesex County courthouse is located (Saluda is on US 17 between Fredericksburg and Newport News). There is a historic Episcopal church in the town called Christ Church, and I went over to photograph it. There is a churchyard cemetery there, and interred in it is Chesty Puller. I spent a moment there and wished that I had been 1/10 of 1% of the man that he was. I’ve thought about that time often. He was a remarkable man and a great American hero.
| Country | Tot Cases | Cases/1M Pop | Deaths | Deaths/1M Pop | Deaths/Cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 152,446 | 3,261 | 15,238 | 326 | 10.0% |
| Italy | 143,626 | 2,375 | 18,279 | 302 | 12.7% |
| France | 117,749 | 1,804 | 12,210 | 187 | 10.4% |
| USA | 462,391 | 1,397 | 16,454 | 50 | 3.6% |
| Germany | 116,801 | 1,394 | 2,451 | 29 | 2.1% |
| UK | 65,077 | 959 | 7,978 | 118 | 12.3% |
| Iran | 66,220 | 788 | 4,110 | 49 | 6.2% |
| World | 1,593,515 | 204 | 95,047 | 12.2 | 6.0% |
| S. Korea | 10,423 | 203 | 204 | 4 | 2.0% |
A few of us will go up the local mountain trail to the summit for Easter sunrise worship then to a local house for refreshments. Six total.
If the Hierarchs had one-onehundredth of testicular fortitude of Pope St. Gregory Magnus (who personally led a penitential procession through the streets of Rome during a plague) there would be widespread civil disobedience on Easter Sunday.
April 20, 2019 by RadicalDiscipleship
The Resurrection is Against the Law
An excerpt from Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s classic Seasons of Faith and Conscience (1991).
The sealing of the tomb is, I believe, notoriously misunderstood. I grew up with a Sunday School notion that to seal the tomb was a matter of hefting the big stone and cementing it tight. The seal, in my mind’s eye, was something like first-century caulking–puttying up the cracks to keep the stink in. Not so. This is a legal seal. Cords would be strung across the rock and anchored at each end with clay. To move the stone would break the seal and indicate tampering.
The event conspicuously echoes the story of Daniel sealed in the den of lions. “And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel” (Daniel 6:18). As there, this is a legal lock on the tomb door–not air tight, but politically tight. To move the stone and break the seal is a civil crime. The resurrection is against the law.
The seal is also a recurring theme in the book of Revelation. Remember the scroll of history sealed with seven seals? Only One is worthy to break them and look upon or unveil the truth: that One is the Lamb who was slain. The seal is a claim of ownership and authority. Its meaning in Revelation is at least that God in Christ reigns sovereign over all history and in all events.
Caesar, in Pilate, on the other hand, violently disputes the claim. He has set his seal of approval on Jesus’ death, and now he guarantees it with troops. Secured by security forces. When the seal is broken in the resurrection, it stands among the signs that the power of the powers (death in all its forms) has been broken. The dominion of political authority–especially inflated, aggressive–and imperial authority has been cut to the heart.
Rather thrilling. Thank you for posting this, Lightman.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=zoRp87HauwQ
Greenville, MS.
The police state on display
Set up a website for online confession. Podcast the sermon & homilies, add few check boxes, and a Terms & Agreements page, and next-day shipping of redemption.
/s
Getting hooked on the meme that a Church is a structure....and that structure somehow validates the worship/prayer.
I’m not sure what you mean “structure.” Do you mean “building”?
Yes - building...
Oh. OK.
Have a good Good Friday -— and on to Easter, my friend!
And 3 counties away from that, my MIL’s church has driveup services every sunday/night/wednesday. The former mayor is one of the attendees.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.