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For months now we have quarantined people involved in mass gatherings. Why aren't we doing it now?A week ago, or seven years ago in Chinese virus time, outrage struck much of America as partiers gathered in a giant pool in the Ozarks. Video of the hundreds of people frolicking, with seemingly no care about the disease produced no small amount of scolding, but also produced something else. The County of St. Louis Missouri called on attendees to quarantine for two weeks or get a Covid-19 test. Over the past several days and nights, tens of thousands of Americans have gathered...

Lawmakers and religious leaders voiced outrage at President Trump after police used tear gas and flash bangs against peaceful protesters outside the White House to clear the crowd for Trump to do a photo-op at St. John's church. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump is "ripping" the country apart. "Tear-gassing peaceful protesters without provocation so that the president could pose for photos outside a church dishonors every value that faith teaches us,” Pelosi and Schumer said. "The President’s continued fanning of the flames of discord, bigotry and violence is cowardly, weak and dangerous." Father...

President Donald Trump went to church Monday. That isn’t exactly accurate. There was no chorus of worship, no corporate prayer, no holy reverence, no gathering of believers, and thus no church. Just the leader of the free world and the charred, boarded-up shell of a building, marred with fire at the hands of mutinous rogues. Amid nationwide protests and riots over the needless death of George Floyd at the hands of dishonorable officers, the president stood outside the vandalized historic structure. St. John’s Episcopal Church isn’t the only desolate house of worship today. Church buildings across America stand as empty...

President Trump walks across Lafayette Park to St. John's Church. Holding a Bible he says, "We have a great country. That's my thoughts."

WOW!   President @realDonaldTrump just walked from the White House with his Bible into Lafayette Square where protesters set fire to the historic St. John’s Church!   God Bless you & We Love You      

WILMINGTON, Del. - Joe Biden met with community leaders at a predominantly African American church in Delaware Monday morning, leaving home for a second consecutive day to address exploding racial tensions that have begun to reshape the upcoming presidential election. Biden, the former vice president who will represent Democrats on the ballot against President Donald Trump this fall, has struggled in recent weeks to be heard from his basement television studio over the noise of dueling national crises.

From the very beginning of our country, faith played a key role in shaping our culture and our country. Unlike many countries, the founders did not want to establish any state religion. Such a commitment would have created an obstacle to the union they were working to create. But the founders never imagined that America would evolve to a point where churches would be closed while pot stores, liquor stores, and abortion clinics would be seen as more essential to be open during our coronavirus lockdown than churches. Since our country’s founding through the World War era, the importance of...

Image courtesy Dean Weingarten Louisiana is one of a few states which ban guns in churches but allow church leaders to allow guns on a case by case basis. According to Concealed Carry.com, as of 2018, there were ten states and the District of Columbia with this policy of religious discrimination against churches that approve of an armed population. The laws in states that ban guns in church are a way to demonize guns. They fairly scream: Guns Bad! Good People Don't Have Guns!The laws flip the script of the Second Amendment, where guns are assumed to be part of...

There have been violent riots in Wisconsin's capital of Madison, where a group of about 150 demonstrators threw rocks at police officers on Saturday night, according to WITI-TV. At least 75 stores were damaged or looted overnight. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel politics and statehouse reporter Patrick Marley tweeted, "Police chief says they aren't arresting people tonight." Interim Madison Police Chief Vic Wahl said his officers stood back during the protests. While Madison didn't do much to prevent the barrage of looting in the city, officials want citizens to know that church services of more than 50 people will absolutely not be...

A sharply divided Supreme Court late Friday turned aside a church's urgent plea that California's coronavirus lockdown orders are putting an unconstitutional burden on religious freedom. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals in rejecting a San Diego church's request for relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom's most recent directive limiting churches to 25% of their normal maximum capacity, with an absolute maximum of 100 people at any service. In a three-page opinion {pdf} issued just before the stroke of midnight Washington time, Roberts said it would be unwise for the court to intervene on an emergency basis as...

Chief Justice Roberts joined the the liberal bloc of the Supreme Court in deciding Governor Newsom has the right to deny churchgoers the right to assemble during this pandemic. Once again, Roberts’ logic is muddled as he this time sided with the far left against the First Amendment of the United States. The Hill reported: "The Supreme Court issued a rare late-night ruling on Friday against a California church challenging their state’s stay-at-home order. In a 5-4 vote, Chief Justice John Roberts broke from other conservative justices to rule in favor of the state. The case was brought by the...

“For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice. And saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man void of understanding. Passing along the street near her corner; And he took the path to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” (Proverbs 7:6-9)The book of Proverbs like all scripture, is multifaceted, it goes beyond being God’s psychology, as I noted in the previous post, although it is indeed that. It is also more than a collection of divine maxims, the teaching of morality, people skills, and...

St. Anne Catholic Church (All Saints Parish)Alpena, Michigan Some relatives of ours received a letter from their priest at St. Anne Catholic Church (All Saints Parish) in Alpena, Michigan, saying that public Masses there will resume this coming weekend (5/30 - 5/31), and explaining to them how those Masses will be conducted.   It is a very long, wordy letter (which I'll include below for any interested and patient people), and it is also included in their online church bulletin, under the section in the bulletin titled "From Fr. Joe". Some of the strange points that jumped out at...

Suit was filed last week in a Virginia federal district court by a Catholic family of 12 challenging the provisions in Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's COVID-19 order that bars worship services with more than ten people. (The state is loosening these requirements in its reopening plan.) The complaint (full text) in Diaz-Bonilla v. Northam, (ED VA, filed 5/22/2020), alleges in part: As a result of the Orders, the Diaz-Bonilla family is able to take their entire family of 12 to: restaurants to order food; any number of retail stores (such as Walmart and Target) that sell food or pharmaceuticals among...

Less than four hours before the deadline for Gov. J.B. Prtizker to file his response to the U.S. Supreme Court to the emergency injunction request brought by two Romanian churches, the governor unilaterally removed all restrictions on churches and houses of worship. Within a few hours yesterday after two Romanian churches filed an emergency injunction pending appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Kavanaugh ordered Gov. Pritzker to respond by 8:00 p.m. Thursday night. Just before the deadline, Gov. Prtizker issued “guidelines” for houses of worship, none of which are mandatory. Liberty Counsel represents Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos...

This weekend, May 16-17, we will begin to offer a full schedule of Masses at St. Mary and St. Juan Diego churches. However seating is restricted to just 25% in the church. At St. Mary's, we will be able to seat 125 people in the church, 10 in the chapel, and 50 in the Hall. At St. Juan Diego, we will be able to seat 250 in the church, 50 in the chapel, and 10 in the Tepeyac Room. Everyone, 3 years and older, is required to wear a mask when in the church, except when receiving communion. Because seating...

Bishops are keeping sacraments suspended indefinitely and allowing Washington churches to be treated differently than other establishments in terms of opening. Washington state Catholic leaders would rather stick it to the president than let him defend their right to celebrate Mass. Following President Donald TrumpÂ’s direction on Friday for states to allow houses of worship to reopened and to declare public worship as essential, Gov. Jay Inslee immediately thumbed his nose, and Washington bishops quickly follow suit.In a disappointing response, the bishops demonstrated that rather than stand up for their flock and acknowledge the presidentÂ’s commitment to religious freedom, they...

Democratic governor throttles worshipCARSON CITY, Nev. (ChurchMilitant.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) is telling Nevada's Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak to open churches. In a letter Sisolak received on Tuesday, the DOJ noted that the governor is unfairly limiting churchgoers while barbershops, salons and restaurants were allowed to reopen May 9. "We are concerned, however, that the flat prohibition against 10 or more persons gathering for in-person worship services — regardless of whether they maintain social-distancing guidelines — impermissibly treats religious and nonreligious organizations unequally," observed the DOJ. Commenting on Sisolak's shutdown orders, the letter added, "These directives may violate...

Maryland county bans Eucharist in church reopening order Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 27, 2020 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- This story is developing and has been updated.An executive order issued Tuesday in Maryland’s Howard County outlines public health rules under which churches may reopen. The order prohibits the distribution and consumption of any food or drink as part of any religious service, effectively outlawing the distribution of Communion and the celebration of the Mass. Howard County Executive Order #2020-09 outlines the conditions and regulations that must be met for non-essential businesses--which in Maryland includes churches and other houses of worship--to resume...

Wichita, Kansas – Reports to one Kansas county’s hotline and web form for reporting “violations” of Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly’s COVID-19 stay at home orders reveal several startling lessons about human nature and the priorities of those most likely to tattle. What soon became known as the “snitch line” was operated by Sedgwick County, Kansas, from late March through May 1, 2020. A listing of the 1,582 complaints made to the county was obtained by Operation Rescue. It showed complaints made from March 26 through April 27, 2020. It also revealed what people wanted shut down most. Among those complained...