Posted on 06/13/2020 9:10:30 AM PDT by ebb tide
CHICAGO, Illinois, June 12, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A Catholic dad in Illinois, dismayed over Cardinal Blase Cupich placing severe post-pandemic restrictions on the resumption of public Masses in the Archdiocese of Chicago, has launched a public campaign to have churches fully reopened.
Joe Lazar, a father and pro-life activist, has launched a campaign called “Reopen my Church.”
“Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago are being persecuted by our local leadership in an unprecedented fashion,” Lazar said to LifeSiteNews, pointing out that it is Cardinal Blase Cupich who is ultimately responsible for the severe restrictions that, in effect, result in the faithful being denied the Sacraments.
“Cardinal Cupich has ignored nearly every attempt by credible Catholic leaders in Illinois to dialogue further on the subject,” Lazar said, adding that “if action is not taken, it is a matter of time before reverent devotion in the densely Catholic city of Chicago will be dissolved” and will become an “unrecognizable practice.”
A petition that Lazar launched online states: “The Catholic Mass must be restored to a level commensurate with grocery stores and pharmacies as soon as possible! Please let your bishops know that you cannot quietly accept the ‘inessential’ status of the Sacraments in Illinois by signing this petition.”
“As many in the world today grapple with concern over death, Catholics are unable to receive that which our Lord Himself stated is necessary for eternal life,” the petition, which can still be signed online, states.
“The decision to extinguish the Sacraments, while nearly every material good remains available, renders the Sacraments inessential by default. This goes against everything the Catholic Church has taught us regarding the Sacraments,” the petition continued.
Addressed to the auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese of Chicago, the petition concluded with a number of questions:
Are the Sacraments essential, or not? Are we willing to be misunderstood, shamed, and even persecuted by society for our devotion to Jesus Christ? Will we accept the fact that our elected state leaders have clearly made material goods essential and constitutionally protected religious practice inessential, and even, potentially punishable? Will we use this time as an opportunity for bold evangelization through personal witness, or choose to quietly capitulate?
The petition urged Catholics “to trust in Jesus Christ, regardless of what it might cost us as individuals.”
In a video, Lazar recounted how events in the state of Illinois, as well as in the archdiocese of Chicago, unfolded amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardinal Cupich had suspended all public Masses beginning March 14.
On March 20, Governor Pritzer, a Democrat, stated in his stay-at-home order, “Pursuant to current guidance from the CDC, any gathering of more than ten people is prohibited unless exempted by this Executive Order.” Since religious services were not mentioned in the document, public Masses, albeit with only a very small congregation, would still have been possible.
Cupich had not only suspended public Masses, however. He also told his priests that all baptisms “must be postponed.” Even “emergency” baptisms, where the child is in danger of death, required the “permission” of the local ordinary.
Already on April 22, several Catholic leaders had asked Cupich in a letter “to get back to a real, present Mass and to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
“In some dioceses parking lot Masses have been authorized. Many of our churches are large enough that we could easily follow the social distancing protocols and advise those at greater risk to refrain from attendance,” they pointed out.
“Perhaps you have a plan in mind already,” the Catholic leaders were hopeful.
Just over a week later, on April 30, Catholics in the Windy City formed the St. Charles Borromeo Society for the purpose of reopening the churches in the archdiocese.
Cardinal Cupich refused to meet with the group, letting his flock know that “after careful review and consideration, the Cardinal regrets that this is not an opportune time for such a meeting.”
Joseph Scheidler, one of the Catholic leaders who had sent the letter on April 22, asked, “When would be an opportune time? We are desperately in need of spiritual leadership during this pandemic and that is sorely lacking in the Archdiocese of Chicago.”
On May 13, Cardinal Cupich published his guidelines for reopening Catholic parishes.
“Phase I allows for parishes to reopen for Baptism, Reconciliation, Weddings and Funerals with a limit of 10 attendees,” Cupich declared. “Phase IA allows for parishes to reopen for private prayer and adoration with a limit of 10 attendees. Given the training schedule noted above, it is anticipated that all parishes, if they choose to do so, could be opened by May 23 for Phase I and by May 30 for Phase IA.”
Most parishes are currently in Phase IA. For those parishes to move on to Phase II, which would allow for the resumption of public Masses, they would have to “apply for certification to offer daily and Sunday Mass.”
Parishes are required to prepare and submit “a detailed proposal for implementing Phase II,” including maintaining “an on-going procurement program for safety and cleaning supplies” and developing “logistical procedures in accord with the guidelines of the Plan to manage more frequent and larger services that cover actions before, during and after the rites.”
Very few parishes have implemented Phase II, according to the video. During Phase II, the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue, the traditional practice of the Church, is banned.
Lisa Bergman, one of the founders of the St. Charles Borromeo Society, wholeheartedly rejected the guidelines, saying Cupich’s remarks were laced with “secular wisdom.”
“Cardinal Cupich has blithely yielded the Authority of the Church and subjugated the primacy of her worship to laws of man which are being successfully challenged by other denominations,” she said.
“In doing so, he replaces what has been heroically defended for thousands of years with the absurd perception that the Mass and the Sacraments are less necessary and more potentially dangerous than grocery stores, gas stations, hardware stores, take-out restaurants, laundries, the postal service, and construction trades, all of which are having no trouble observing CDC regulations.”
“This monstrous triple betrayal of Christ and His Church, from beginning to end, normalizes the narrative that the Church is secondary and must abase itself as though it were merely a place of recreation,” Bergman added.
Meanwhile, already on May 2, several pastors ministering to Romanian Christian congregations in the Chicago area had told Governor Pritzker that they were going to defy his executive order limiting religious gatherings to only ten people.
“Please be advised that, beginning on May 10, 2020, our congregations will resume in-person church gatherings, and we will no longer adhere to the 10-person limit or the other unconstitutional restrictions comprised within your orders,” the pastors wrote.
Governor Pritzer, in turn, was forced to remove all restrictions on religious services following various lawsuits. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, ordered Pritzker to respond to one particular lawsuit by May 28.
Before that deadline, Pritzker issued new non-mandatory guidelines for churches and other places of worship. The guidelines continued to recommend social distancing, face masks, and limited attendance, as well as excluding singing, refreshments, and close physical contact, but church leaders were free to implement them as they saw fit.
In spite of Pritzker’s new guidelines, the archdiocese of Chicago under Cardinal Cupich has failed to update his plan for the resumption of public Masses.
As lay Catholics, led by Joe Lazar, said in their petition, “Essentially, a shorter earthly life with an undying devotion to the Lord through the Sacraments is more essential than a longer life, which is void of a metaphysical reality.”
Cardinal Dupek.
Ping
Imagine the Lord will not look kindly on what these "shepherds" have done to the sheep in their care.
The Blazer doesn’t care as long he gets his donations from the sheep.
Orthodox Christians are also being persecuted by denial of the Sacraments!!!!
Besides the faithful not receiving Holy Communion and Holy Confession, catechumens are not being instructed in the Faith, and there are no Baptisms or Chrismations! Thus the growth of the Holy Orthodox Church, mandated by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, has been reduced to zero!!!! (Last Sunday was Pentecost, and many Priests had counted on being opened on Pentecost!)
This is all due to the action of LAWYERS—who have our Hierarchs buffaloed!! This is true even in some States that have declared worship to be essential! Lord have Mercy!!!!
Pritzker represents the Deep State, and Cupich represents the Deep Church that Archbishop Vigano mentioned in his recent letter to President Trump...
Barf alert?
The only barf alert here is the bozo Bishop Blaise. And I apologize if that offends any clowns.
Not every Orthodox Hierarch is kowtowing.
Metropolitan JOSEPH of the Antiochian Archdiocese has reached his limit and drawn some necessary lines in the sand:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3853949/posts
“We also understand that as the situation improved, some of our civil authorities either refused to loosen their restrictions in a commensurate way or created reopening plans that did not take the churches into equal consideration. We have been working for weeks through the Assembly of Bishops to petition those civil authorities to reconsider their unfair placement of the churches in their phased reopening plans. With this letter, we believe that any further restriction of our churches in the United States below 25% capacity is an undue burden on the exercise of our freedom of religion, and we grant our blessing to our parishes to open to this level nationwide. Let our joy this weekend of All Saints be full!
We have stated throughout these difficult days that Holy Communion is the “medicine of immortality” not a vector of disease. We have also consistently stated that our method of distributing the Holy Gifts is not open to question. With great pain and heartache, we cooperated with our civil authorities in the limiting of gatherings of the faithful, but our cooperation ends with any infringement on the traditional practices of our Faith. As we welcome you back to the churches, we call on you to draw near to receive the Holy Gifts, not with the fear of a virus, but with the fear of God, faith, and love.”
you have to apply to open your church?....this is communist China....
Hint for the future: put the “barf alert” between the words “Cardinal” and “Cupich”.
Not JUST LAwyers... your GOVERNOR...is he Christian or Jew?? And your MAYOR...is it REALLY a FEMALe..???omg
God bless Joe Lazar and his efforts to restart the Mass in the Archdiocese of Illinois.
Cupich has the backbone of a jelly fish. Remember, he came from Portland which should tell you enough.
He couldn’t even make a strong stand when the General Assembly was voting to extend abortion to include infanticide. I only saw a limp-wristed letter to Pritzker when he should have been down in Springfield pounding on the doors.
But I also blame the pastors for not speaking out. No backbone in any of them. And now if I want to participate in the Mass in-person, I have to make a reservation, wear a mask, social distance and have my name on a contact tracing list. As they say in Mexico, “No way, Jose.”
I feel my Faith is being tested. Anybody else?
“Essentially, a shorter earthly life with an undying devotion to the Lord through the Sacraments is more essential than a longer life, which is void of a metaphysical reality.”
Who says a longer life would be devoid of metaphysical reality? This is an irrational statement. However, I agree it should be up to individuals what risk they want to take, to go to mass or not.
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