Lawler On Limits

Dr. Robert Schuller delivering his sermon at a drive-in "church"

By Phil Lawler

Apr 09, 2020

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/silence-closed-churches-and-mixed-messages/

A great silence spreads over the Christian world each year on Good Friday, to be broken by the explosive joy of the Gloria at the Easter vigil. But this year the silence has been with us already for a few weeks, with churches closed and public liturgical celebrations banned.

Many zealous pastors have tried to fill the void with drive-in liturgies and livestreamed private Masses. God bless them for those efforts. But they aren’t the same. A car is not a sacred space, and for anyone who believes in the Real Presence (see Father Pokorsky’s comments on that topic), pixels on a screen provide a comfort but not a substitute.

Yet when some of us have chafed at restrictions and urged bishops to make the liturgy more accessible, we have been chastised, described as “irresponsible,” and—in a rhetorical tactic that I consider irresponsible—blamed in advance for deaths.

Let me set the record straight. No one that I know has recommended that we ignore the danger of CO19. Those of us clamoring for the sacraments have acknowledged that there must be some prudent restrictions. We ask only that our pastors examine each proposed restriction carefully, to see if it is really necessary, when weighed against our need for (and right to) the sacraments.

Gerard Nadal, a microbiologist, has offered a sensible rundown of what might be possible. He concludes that the distribution of Communion cannot be done safely. But in a typical parish church dozens of people could attend Mass without violating “social-distance” guidelines, and in some of our cavernous cathedrals that number could safely be multiplied. Pastors could be allowed to schedule more Masses to ease crowding. Disinfecting pews between services would be a simple task. It is absurd to suggest that a church is a more dangerous venue, in terms of contagion, than a grocery store or a take-out restaurant.

As for other sacraments, it takes only a bit of imagination and preparation to arrange a confessional system in which priest and penitent are the prescribed six feet apart. And priests in suitable protective garb can anoint hospital patients without unduly endangering themselves or others. We have come to expect that every wedding will be an extravaganza, but in fact the ceremony only requires a couple of witnesses. Baptisms and funerals, too, could be scheduled without violating orders against meetings of ten or more people.

There is a way. The only question—the question that the faithful are asking—is whether there is a will.