Denver Newsroom, May 8, 2020 / 02:59 am (CNA).- On Sunday, March 15, Nebraskans in the Diocese of Lincoln still had a choice of whether or not they wanted to attend Mass and risk possible exposure to coronavirus.
By the next day, they didn’t. Public Masses in the diocese were canceled, as they soon were throughout the country due to the pandemic.
Now that curves of infection are “flattening” and hospitals have had a chance to ramp up their capacity and supplies, many dioceses, including Lincoln, are slowly reopening Masses to the public. What exactly that will look like varies a lot depending on each parish’s unique spaces and limitations.
Archbishop George Lucas, currently serving as acting bishop of Lincoln, has followed guidelines from Governor Pete Ricketts in issuing some general guidance for re-starting public Masses. Ultimately, however, he left the decision to reopen up to each individual parish.
One place that has been offering public Masses as of Monday, May 4, is St. Wenceslaus parish in Wahoo, Nebraska, a town of 4,500 people located in the Diocese of Lincoln.
Fr. Joseph Faulkner, the pastor of St. Wenceslaus in Wahoo, said he decided to reopen public Masses at his parish after meeting virtually with the other priests in his area. The Masses, of course, will look quite different than normal – with limited capacity, social distancing, and precautions like no holy water, no hymnals, and no sign of peace.
And in many ways, Faulkner said he is encouraging his parishioners to act like it’s the weekend of March 14-15 again.
“From the get-go, we’re telling people – you need to make a decision. I even put in my message (to parishioners), think back to – it’s March 14th and you’re trying to make a decision. Whatever decision you made then is probably still the right decision. If you need to be extra careful for yourself, for your family, for your parents, for your coworkers, for your patients you see in the nursing home, stay away,” he said.
Parishes in the cities of Lincoln and Omaha decided to wait to reopen, Faulkner said. Lincoln has a re-opening date of May 11 for non-essential businesses, and the size of Omaha parishes made re-opening at this point very difficult. Although Wahoo sees a lot of traffic from Lincoln and Omaha and other surrounding towns, Faulkner said he thought he could use appropriate precautions to make reopening safe at his parish.
“St. Wenceslaus specifically is lucky. We’ve got a nice big basement, so that gets you another 30%-40% seating room. We’ve got three priests, which is really lucky. So from five weekend Masses, we’re going up to eight, so we can do more to spread our people out.”
Faulkner said he has even offered to other parishes with just one priest that he can send someone to help them out if they are offering extra Masses for social distancing and are feeling burned out.
For attendance and seating, Faulkner said he is blocking off every other pew and is going to stagger families in order to maintain six feet of distance. Instead of having people call or sign up online, Faulkner said he is hoping that the extra Mass times, the use of the basement space, as well as the people who choose to stay home, will be enough to maintain an appropriately staggered congregation.
Faulkner said he has been grateful to have public weekday Masses before the weekend to work out some of the kinks of the new restrictions. For example, he’s still working on his communion line protocol, he said. He tried a method using the side aisles and then the center aisle at his first Mass on May 4th, and “it was horrible. So I’m going to fix that tomorrow.”
Masks during communion have also been tricky.
“It’s really hard to say Mass with a mask on, and then I have to make my Communion, I have to receive,” Faulkner said. The priests were donated some N95 masks, which Faulkner tried to use on Monday, but the straps made it hard to quickly receive communion and readjust the mask without touching his face or his glasses, he said, so he’s hoping to find a different kind of mask by the weekend.
From his parishioners, Faulkner said he has seen a variety of attitudes toward the closing, and now re-opening, of public Masses.
“There’s really three camps,” he said. “There’s the, yes, amen, be safe, meditate-on-the-saints-who-didn’t-have-the-Eucharist-for-years group.”
“Then there’s definitely the middle group, which is like, I don’t want to take any risks, but I want the first available ‘okay’ to go to Mass,” he said.
“And then there’s the, ‘I’m 85. If I die because I went to Mass, thank God’ crowd. Literally the people who are most cavalier are the older ones,” Faulkner said.
A bishop’s perspective: Oklahoma
Archbishop Paul Coakley, the bishop of Oklahoma City, told CNA that Catholic parishes throughout the state will start celebrating public Masses again on May 18th, with their first public weekend Masses on May 23-24, the Feast of the Ascension.
In a May 7 letter to Oklahoma Catholics posted on the archdiocese’s website, Coakley recognized that while the past two months without Mass have been a painful time for many, God never abandoned his people.
“The gift of the Holy Spirit assures us of God’s continued presence in our lives. No matter the circumstance, he is with us. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice for the lay faithful these past few months has been fasting from Christ’s body, blood, soul and divinity given to us in his real presence in the Eucharist. We pray that in this time of Eucharistic fasting, God has graced you with a profound hunger for this communion with Jesus and the members of his Body, the Church,” he stated.
The timing of reopening public Masses was chosen just before the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost “to remind us of God’s faithfulness and to prepare to celebrate the birth of our beloved Church on Pentecost,” he added.
The decision was reached through consultations with Bishop David Konderla of Tulsa, priest councils in the state, and medical experts, “including a prominent infectious disease specialist,” Coakley said.
“It won’t be business as usual,” he said. “We will be celebrating public Mass and people will be able to come and they will be able to receive Holy communion, but the churches won’t be full. In fact, we’re limiting it to 33% of the occupancy capacity,” he noted.
“We’ve been very cautious watching the numbers and putting in place pretty strict guidelines to ensure that we were able to maintain social distances and practice the appropriate kind of hygiene,” he added.
A five page document released by the state’s Catholic dioceses details the exact guidelines, such as including 6-foot social distancing between pews, the recommendation that all attendees wear masks, and the recommendation that priests have plenty of hand sanitizer readily available throughout the church.
Coakley said the document offers guidelines for pastors while still giving them the flexibility to implement the recommendations and requirements in the way that works best for their unique parishes.
“If the church fills beyond capacity, we’re asking them to consider using other space in the parish, perhaps the parish hall, to be able to put overflow crowds and continuing to social distance properly, parking lots, things of that sort,” he said. “We’re going to have to rely upon the creativity of our pastors and they have been demonstrating a great deal of creativity up to now, so I’m sure they’ll continue to do so.”
Coakley said he is asking priests to also continue offering livestream Masses for people who will choose not to come to the public Masses at this time. He noted in his May 7 message that the dispensation from the Sunday obligation still stands for all Oklahoma Catholics at this time.
“We are dealing with an invisible threat to people’s lives, a virus that our brightest doctors and scientists are still figuring out. The ever-present temptation in our American culture is to want solutions immediately and to act quickly, because we want what we want, and we want it now. As a Church, we must proceed more deliberatively,” he said.
Coakley told CNA that while he understands Catholics’ fear, anger and frustration during these past two months of suspended Masses, he also encouraged them to think of their time away as a way of serving others.
“We’re really living through a health crisis, a time of severe challenges, and it’s impacting us in so many ways economically, and in terms of social isolation, loneliness, the liturgy also. But I think we need to think beyond individual rights and consider also our responsibilities toward one another, especially the responsibility to love and serve one another, to be mindful of one another’s needs.”
Wichita, Kansas
On May 3, Bishop Carl Kemme of the Diocese of Wichita announced plans to reopen public Masses starting on Wednesday, May 6, following recommendations of the county’s local public health authorities.
Phase one of the guidelines will last until May 20, and they stipulate that parishes may hold Masses at no more than 33% capacity. Churches will use only one entrance, so that the number of people coming may be properly counted and seated, and six foot spacing should be clearly marked so that people can maintain social distance.
Mass attendees are encouraged to wear masks, and priests are required to wear them while distributing communion. Parishes are also encouraged to keep hand sanitizer available at entrances, and parishioners are “strongly encouraged” to receive communion in the hand.
Fr. Clay Kimbro is the parochial vicar at St. Anne’s parish in Wichita. Kimbro said he and the other priests of the diocese have been having weekly virtual talks with the bishop about when to re-open Masses and what that might look like, and so priests were able to give feedback as to what guidelines they thought would work well.
At St. Anne’s, which has 1,200 families, Kimbro and his leadership team have been meeting and working on logistical things, like roping off every other pew so that Mass attendees can maintain proper distancing.
He said he has also had extra meetings with his ushers, who on the weekends will “seat everyone so that they can make sure that the distance is maintained. That’s a lot more responsibility than our ushers are normally given.”
Kimbro said the parish is not having parishioners sign up for Masses online. Instead, if more people show up than the allowed 33%, the overflow congregation will be directed to the school’s auditorium, where a second priest – either Kimbro or his pastor – will celebrate a concurrent Mass, also with social distancing protocols in place.
“We were a little leery of (adding Mass times), because when you add Mass times, it’s hard to take them back,” Kimbro said. “Also, it’s hard to turn people away. They come to the door at 10 a.m. for Mass, and we say, ‘Come back at 1:00 p.m.’ Well, it’s a lot easier to say, ‘Go over to the auditorium.’”
Kimbro said the parish is working on decorating the auditorium to make it an appropriate place to have Mass, and they are also putting down tape lines to direct traffic and to mark distances.
“There’s a lot of work in planning, and it can be a little overwhelming, but we’re overall just really excited to see people again,” he said.
St. Anne’s parishioners have been “all over the map” in terms of their eagerness to return to Mass at this time, Kimbro said. Some have been signing up to read at Mass, or to usher or distribute communion, because they miss Mass so much and they want to be involved.
Others are a bit more anxious, Kimbro said, and he has encouraged those people to attend weekday Masses, where there are likely to be fewer people.
He also added that the Sunday obligation continues to be dispensed for everyone, as Bishop Kemme made clear in his May 3 announcement.
“I do want to emphasize that the current pandemic is far from over. Medical experts tell us that this health crisis remains a very serious threat to the lives of many people,” Kemme stated.
“Because of this, I want to urge all those in the high risk population and others who so choose to continue to use the general dispensation I am giving from the obligation to attend the Sunday celebration of the Mass, which continues indefinitely during this crisis. Please do not put yourself or others at risk by attending the Masses once they resume. This is my urgent appeal to all in our Catholic Community: use extraordinary caution and good judgment in determining if you should attend Mass. No mortal sin is committed if you decide that you and your family should not attend.”
Kimbro said that he is looking forward to having parishioners come back to Mass, even though it might not be the triumphant return that some may have envisioned just yet, with everyone packing in the pews like normal.
“I think everybody was hoping it would kind of be like this post-9/11 experience, where churches are packed and everybody recognizes that need (for God), but we’re tempering that, and it’s kind of like everything in this virus, right? Our expectations versus our reality – having to live in the reality of the moment and what we’re given and just go with that,” he said.
“But then I looked at the Gospel for this Sunday that we’re back, and the first line is: ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.’ So that’s perfect.”
[…]
It feels great to be ahead of the curve. All aboard the sane train! “Invisible but wants to be your buddy” is an axiomatic non-scenario, and even a 12 year-old can see this. You can keep telling yourselves this stuff is real, because you want it to be, because it makes you feel good, and because you’ve been telling yourselves it’s real for the past 2 thousand years, but it ain’t real. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow, not in 10,000 years.
The crucifixion was an excellent example of “feel good.”
Some day, if you ever acquire a shred of wisdom, you will discover what an excellent proof for the existence of God exists in your need to be revolted by the idea.
Grow up. Why do you even post on this site? Are you a paid troll?
You can’t see air. It doesnt make it any less real. If I leave the room you are in and you can’t see me, I am as such “invisible”, but I am real nonetheless.
I would suggest that asking people to behave in a moral manner to avoid hurting others, or forbidding just taking what we want irrespective of consequence, is guaranteed not to feel good at times. It doesnt make it less right. In general, encouraging people to be mindful of others feelings, wants and needs, within moral reason, can only improve society. What we have seen the last few years of people engaging in riot, mob theft, and outright hate and bigotry, are SECULAR values. The value of “me first”. Ask yourself if society is now better off for those “values” having overwhelmed society?? My vote is no. I’ll stick with the invisible God and His rules for living, thanks.
You can keep telling yourself that this stuff isn’t real, because you don’t want it to be, because it makes you feel good, and because you’ve been telling yourself it isn’t real for the past 2000 years, but it is real, yesterday, today, tomorrow, and in 10,000 years.
The discontent with which you speak can only be provoked by the successful repression of a conscience unable to overcome a denial of a reality needing sustained weakness as a man to ignore. Patronizing anger is always driven by desperation.
Athanasius:
No, not paid. I have an axe to grind with this fraud.
LJ:
Incorrect, you CAN see air. You can see it blowing the branches of a tree. You can see it filling a balloon. You can weigh it. You can measure it. You can detect it. Can you MEASURE or DETECT God? No, hence the reason your analogy is nonsensical, but I guess you could blame your confusion on me for using the word “invisible” instead of “undetectable”, since there is a crisp distinction there.
Edward J Baker:
“Some day, if you ever acquire a shred of wisdom, you will discover what an excellent proof for the existence of God exists in your need to be revolted by the idea.”
So in other words, God is self-proving because of YOUR perception that I am revolted by the idea of God? I truly believe you are capable of a slightly more logical thought process than that. Let’s just help you out by pointing out the very first problem with this “proof”: you would first and foremost be subjected to all of its variations. For example, we could say that your disbelief (or revulsion) of the idea of Allah/Islam PROVES that it’s true. See? That’s stupid. Next, I’ll mention that you are misunderstanding what the ACTUAL revulsion is about… my revulsion is against “trust me bro” or “my truth” or “8000 mutually-exclusive religions backed only by – trust me bro”. That is what’s revolting, not God, because we haven’t even gotten far enough to be able to consider God as a remotely coherent concept in the first place. But anyway, I appreciate you sharing your fringe, minority viewpoint. It’s certainly fascinating.
Your attempts to refute a premise you cannot grasp are devoid of any sense of logic. You repeatedly commit here and in your history of comments, especially when you comment on scientific matters, the fallacy of the undistributed middle, which boils down to a failure to make rational distinctions. Nowhere in my comment was it implicit that contempt for any idea implies its necessary existence. Just one specific idea in particular. Is this too much to comprehend? By the way, as a real scientist, your past comments on science are simply off the wall false.
Somewhat encouraging to read that “nones still show a great openness toward belief in the spiritual realm.”
Usually as in, I’m “spiritual,” but not religious….Yours truly has proposed that the new post-Christian religion, then, is the new trinity of Evolutionism, Technocracy and, in place of the Logos, the logic of a digital and ultimately Random Universe. (See book interview for “A GENERATION ABANDONED at https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/03/29/a-generation-abandoned-why-whatever-is-not-enough/
THIS from the book:
“In a Seattle museum one display is the front-page from when the State of Washington in 1970 approved abortion by popular vote (the first time ever). Next to it is a second display. This one reports that in 1994 a Seattle firm became the manufacturer of ultrasound. The text reports that this University of Washington invention has ‘saved countless lives.’ Shown is an ultrasound image (sonogram) of a real child in the womb, but our value-neutral junior-high-school students breeze past the second display without perceiving any contradiction [!!!] at all. Only this: ‘that’s cool, really neat’.”
AND, about the nones’ admitted limits of science, how about unquestioned predispositions (!), first, in the pre-scientific Galileo Incident where a view of the outer universe through the telescope was declined—and today, where the facts of unborn inner universes visible from ultrasound and fiber optics (science!) are withheld from mothers? About (Pakaluk’s) worthy call to restore education, what first might be needed is cult “deprogramming”…
AND, beyond the national picture and the none’s rejection of organized religion in favor of blending nature and spirituality, there’s now the global and even existential problem:
“Islam [too!] has not wanted to choose between Heaven and Earth. It proposed instead a blending [!] of heaven and earth, sex and mysticism, war and proselytism, conquest and apostolate. In more general terms, Islam proposed a blending [!] of the spiritual and the temporal worlds […]” (lay theologian Jean Guitton, “Great Heresies and Church Councils,” 1965).
This isn’t necessarily bad news. It means that perhaps we can have a reset and reach out to people who aren’t laden down with “Church baggage”. I help with RCIA at my parish and the adults there are blessedly ignorant of the pre/post Vatican 2 battles, liturgy wars or anything like that. They are mostly blank slates who are truly open to the Gospel. It’s actually refreshing. Let’s not mess this opportunity up.
He notes that divorce culture is part of the problem, but does not suggest (or at least the article does not mention it) that parents figure out a way to make their marriages work. Most unfortunate.
“Nones” who have any familiarity at all with traditional Church teaching on human sexuality and with the Catholic commitment to remaining loyal to the teaching that the Holy Spirit has preserved in the Church for twenty centuries — loyal regardless of popular, worldly thinking of the times ++ are not being drawn to Catholicism by Bergoglio’s Vatican.
And so things will continue to go so long as the religion stays stuck in its modern rut of only an ethnic/cultural/ritual club unable anymore to teach people how to positively concretely experience God so that they can KNOW God and KNOW God is real. When the people inside the Church are no different than those outside, why should anyone wish to be inside? The institutional Church has given up on and forgotten those deepest yearnings of the human heart, to be one with God.
Today it’s 99 of the sheep who are lost and the shepherd spends all his time with the one in the church. Perhaps we should go out and rescue a few of the 99.
So true
I grew up with the Baltimore Catechism. We learned something – lots of things –
sacraments, the commandments, the church, the works of mercy, etc. One question I well remember was”Why did God make me?” At the age of 8, we were already being told the purpose of our lives. We would not be 40 years old someday wondering “what’s it all about? Why am I here?”
When I see the religious education materials my grandchildren get, I am appalled.
Mush, as if the children are to delicate to learn simple straight facts. Since Vatican II it seems that the church in this country has been on a dumbing down mission.
I try to educate my grandchildren on these questions. And I give them a copy of The
New Saint Joseph Catechism, an updated and illustrated version of the original.
Many of the questions are the same. I also talk to them about the Scriptures, the saints, the rosary. And I give them appropriate books. Along with the usual Christmas gifts, a religious item is also always included.
Evangelization must start early – and giving up is out of the question!
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, from the Catholic Book Publishing Corp.
Can anyone name for me one distinctly concrete improvement that has resulted from any one of the plethora of surveys that we’ve been subjected to in the past 50 years? Just name one.
Yes, the urgency of your commentary and other faithful Catholics understanding the dire state of the Church.
Edward, I can only speak for myself. To realize the morass of the Church I do not need a survey. I simply open my metaphorical eyes.
Deacon…here is at least one positive change/initiative that came from a poll…there are many more.
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/us-bishops-overwhelmingly-endorse-eucharistic-statement-and-revival-campaign
“Even still, nones still show a great openness toward belief in the spiritual realm”. Most have as their moral guide, Avoid doing evil towards others. A golden rule, for the None who has jettisoned faith in Christ, most often diluted into rationalization in condoning evil.
Added challenge is as Harry says, that the current pontificate diminishes moral judgment in favor of unprincipled acceptance as in AL, FS. Yes. As CNA’s Peter Pinedo alludes there’s a rich harvest out there. The enormous challenge is penetrating minds sedated by drugs and years of critical thinking theory. Theory based on false premises regarding conscience and the apprehension of truth. A deeply spiritual, unmitigated presentation of faith in the bloodied God man on the cross might touch a nerve.
Religion is faith in “Revelation”. Philosophy is the result of human reflections. No matter how great, philosophy is not religion. Religion includes acceptance of “Mysteries”, beyond our human rational mind.
Michel, agreed with your understanding of religion and mystery, faith in revelation. Although there is in faith an apprehension insofar as the will is drawn by what it apprehends in Christ, who reveals God in a manner accessible to us. Philosophy is, in its finest etymological description, love of wisdom. A reasoned pursuit for truth. God, our conclusion that God exists is acquired by reason. Whereas the mystery of Christ is realized by faith, faith as the Apostle says is evidence of what we hope for. What is it then that draws us to Christ and renders faith in that which we hope for? If not a gift, the knowledge of an incomprehensible exquisite love.
Father Peter Morello, thank you for your post and please allow me to clarify my “understanding” of faith and evidence with an analogy. I live in Canada and have never been to Australia. I do believe that Australia exists, I have faith in Australia’s existence. And if I was to go to Australia, I would then have evidence of Australia’s existence. (As the Lord said to Thomas “You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” John 20:29 ). My faith is a gift from God, a gift I received freely and I have to freely share. No philosophical argument could shake my faith. It is a “nano-mystery”. In reading the Bible, I see the struggle of the prophet Jeremiah asking God “Why me, why me?”and I feel justified asking God, the same question, without however, ever setting a timeline for the answer
‘Nones’ now largest religious category in U.S.”
I can’t imagine why?
The eradication, essentially, of religious life, the Catholic school system and accurate catechesis was deliberate and in the service of an atheistic enterprise. By far those in the Church who enthusiastically followed the current of the mid-century council did not understand what was happening. Although they had doubts they did not articulate them with any fervor.
Anyone who did not live in the pre-conciliar Church cannot grasp what has been lost, but we do live with the consequences from the existential angst of our youth to the faithless, unbalanced cognitive engagement with reality in the Vatican.
Were revisions in ecclesial life required at that time? Yes, but the project was commandeered by the nefarious, and even wise and holy men and women with the very best of intentions were blindsided.
We have a lot of work ahead of us. It begins by being well informed of the mysteries of the faith, and a willingness to render the adult “no” when one perceives themself as being manipulated by nefarious characters in a collar.
Just because some people have described ‘nones’ as spiritual and religious, does not make it so. In fact, no religion has ‘spiritual’ content. Emotion based assertions that some ‘spiritual’ feeling or force is in play are never found in religions works. The content of religions are respected stories known for their insight into aspects of human life in creation. These stories provide non-emotional and non-spiritual understandings, alone.
Not surprised by the increase of % of “Nones”. We are encouraged, through advertisement to spend more, We are encouraged at work to focus on productivity. Religion, not being mentioned, is no longer a priority and soon if not already part of our culture. Have we selected to serve $ as we can’t serve two masters?
For me, spirituality is a feeling that the material world can’t fulfill all our human needs and aspirations and therefore spirituality, by definition, is neither scientific nor rational, but holistically emotional.It complement our consciousness with some form of meditation (Active, developing)and contemplation, (Passive, absorbing what meditation has developed)It acknowledge that we do not have all the answers to the questions we ask ourselves. It is a faith in an optimistic look at life. It is not a philosophy, yet it impacts life and behaviour.
I suggest you visit http://www.mysticprayer.blogspot.com in order to inform yourself better as to what authentic orthodox spiritualism consists, and it is NOT emotionalism. This is a non-commercial blog with zero profit motive or anything to sell.
Thank you, I will
We are all nones for periods of times as we walk the faith journey
I did. Very interesting. I am always hungry for other expressions of thought. Incidentally, a “holistically emotional” experience has nothing to do with “emotionalism”. It depicts a state of open and sincere mind,ready to engage in meditation with my slow and limited intellect. Then will come the contemplation of the subject of my meditation. There is a very rich tradition of spirituality in Christianity. Origen, a doctor of the Church involved spirituality, meditation and contemplation in his reading of the Bible.