Posted on 11/10/2020 4:32:19 PM PST by ebb tide
November 10, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — In a blog post at the National Catholic Register, Msgr. Charles Pope appealed to the country’s bishops to fight more proactively for the right of the faithful to practice their faith publicly. He said their response to the lockdowns in the spring, as well as to continuing restrictions, have given many people the message that “[y]our physical health is more important than your spiritual health.”
Noting that many European countries are heading into severe lockdowns in response to increasing positive test numbers, he worries that pressure to follow suit will likewise increase in the United States, and that this will be a test of the bishops’ resolve to put spiritual concerns above temporal ones.
The role that the Church will play leading up to potential new draconian lockdowns is particularly concerning to the priest of the Archdiocese of Washington. The bishops’ supine acceptance of coronavirus restrictions has had the effect that “people got the message that the Church, the sacraments and the Sacred Liturgy just aren’t all that critical,” such that “only 30% on average have returned to Mass.”
Pleading with the bishops to “fight for us,” Pope outlined nine points the bishops should consider in order to show their faithful that the public practice of the faith is indeed essential. In summary form, these points are:
Proactively resist lockdowns by engaging officials and making use of every legal appeal available.
Even if Mass attendance is limited, do not cancel Masses entirely. The Mass should be offered publicly, even if only 10 people can be in attendance.
“Please, good bishops, fight for us! The sacraments are too important to simply cancel their availability.”
Saying that the costs of lockdowns “seem clearly to outweigh the possible benefits,” Pope pointed out some of the “severe,” “heinous,” and “odious” effects apart from the impact on Catholics going to church, including the harm to the poor and small business owners and the increase of “depression, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, deferred medical and dental treatment, divorce and loneliness.”
Noting that “we have accepted mandates that don’t even seem to work,” Pope expressed deep concern “that we have ceded our rights to government officials out of a fear that far outweighs the actual threat.”
He considered it “far wiser to do what we have done in previous pandemics: isolate and protect the sick, the vulnerable and those known to be contagious,” while upholding the rights of everyone to live a fully human life.
Pope has been steadfast in warning against fearful reactions to the pandemic, despite his own hospitalization due to the virus earlier this year.
Popular US priest urges Americans to not give into ‘demonic’ fear over pandemic
Washington Post’s hit piece on COVID-stricken priest left out these important facts
Ping
Our Church leaders are DEMOCRATS....PURE DEMOCRATS!
One of my prayers is to be able to sing at church
I pull my mask down as soon as I get to my pew and I sing like there’s no tomorrow.
I haven’t seen a Msgr. Pope post here for a long time.
Did they stop?
I love Mngr. Pope, and I’m not even Catholic.
He is a warrior for the Christian Faith.
I believe Salvation was the one who was faithfully posting his articles, but she has been away from FR because of knee surgery since July. At her request, some of us have temporarily picked up the other posts she was doing, but apparently no one picked up the Msgr. Pope posts.
It’s a long time since July? Is she having complications?
We—at least I— haven’t heard from her as far as I know.
Thanks.
tiki wrote:”I pull my mask down* as soon as I get to my pew and I sing like there’s no tomorrow.”
Do that* at my church (in LaCrosse WI diocese) and your kicked out,
Correct; I have heard from her last in early September; she mentioned an upcoming doctor appointment, after which she would consider posting or adding to Daily Mass threads. Didn’t hear from her since, so it doesn’t look good.
Between Cronos and I we barely make it with the Daily Mass; I can’t take on another recurring task.
Msgr. Pope’s threads are open and require responding to anti-Catholic polemicists. They are an opportunity to expose the Catholic faith to our critics. It would be great if someone with a fighting spirit resumed them.
“Msgr. Pope’s threads are open and require responding to anti-Catholic polemicists.”
Although it would be an honor to pick that banner up and carry it for a while, I’m afraid I can’t, for at least two reasons.
1. Psalm 138:22. I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.
After a short while of my responding to the anti-Catholic polemicists, the Religion Forum would be a smoking wasteland. I hate stupidity, and I hate lies. I hate the smug self-righteousness with which (some) protestants cast God’s blessings back in His loving face.
2. I am old. My faculties are fled. I am following Traitor Joe down the Rabbit-hole.
Words do not suffice to convey what a great blessing Salvation’s posts have been to me personally, and what a tremendous help they have been in times of illness, of battles lost, of heartbreak. I will be grateful to her forever. May God grant that she recovers and returns to FR.
Yeah. I understand.
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.