Posted on 04/20/2020 5:43:24 PM PDT by marshmallow
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - With spring priestly ordinations just around the corner, many dioceses around the U.S. anticipate that state pandemic-related lockdown measures will extend into May and are pushing back their plans, while others are still weighing their options.
In the heart of the nation’s COVID-19 pandemic, Father Christopher Argano, vocations director for the Archdiocese of New York, told Catholic News Service that New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan was in a wait-and-see mode and hoping that plans could remain in place for a May 25 ordination ceremony at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Dolan is hoping to ordain one seminarian for the archdiocese and possibly one or two local Franciscan seminarians for their religious order, followed by a June 13 ordination of permanent diaconate that the archdiocese has scheduled.
“That is a question that is still being looked at, these are questions we don’t have answers to yet,” Argano said of whether the archdiocese will ultimately be able to proceed with ordinations as scheduled.
“The cardinal is hoping against hope that at that time, there would be a loosening of restrictions and that we could have a small group of immediate family and guests there, but we just don’t know.”
In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Empire State to shut down and asked local businesses to step up as officials mounted a desperate struggle to slow the corona¬virus pandemic in what has become the nation’s deadliest hot spot for COVID-19.
On April 6, the governor directed schools and nonessential businesses to stay closed for an additional two weeks through April 29 and it remains unknown if that lockdown order will be again extended.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
A friend of mine is going to be ordained on time, behind closed doors. I’m pleased that he and his colleagues made this decision in concert with their bishop.
Wow. How embarassing.
These priests and bishops need to grow a pair. If they get arrested so be it.
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