Opening a Can of Worms and Reflecting on Bishops Cancelling all Public Masses

Well....

Oh my....

Yikes!

I opened a can of worms with a brief statement on my Facebook wall Sunday night:

Went to a drive in Mass in Front Royal this evening and received my Lord and Savior on my knees. Thank you, Jesus. Thy will be done.

The incredible uproar began!

One gentleman accused me of being in mortal sin for disobeying the bishop. (More on that below.) A fellow blogger said I was committing serious scandal and demanded I take down the thread because the Mass was offered by a priest of the SSPX. Another ranted that I was willing to endanger and even KILL people.

Hysteria and incivility seem to be the order of the day during the coronavirus plague.

Please......Everybody take a deep breath.....

Now....Let me begin by describing the event.

A friend sent me a notice Saturday evening (oops! actually it was 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning) saying a drive-in TLM (Traditional Latin Mass) was being offered at the fairgrounds in Front Royal Sunday afternoon. Both the Warren County police and the Warren County fairground approved it. Let me say that again. The Warren County sheriff, well aware of the CDC guidelines for limits on public gatherings, along with the fairgrounds approved it!

You needed to sign up and there were strict rules for distancing. So I went to the website and signed up. We were to stay in our cars which were spaced 6-8 feet apart. If we were receiving Communion the priest would come to the car and people could get out to receive and immediately return to the car. There was no interaction with anyone except the priest who did not touch anyone. I have never had a priest during the Latin rite touch my tongue when they distributed Communion. I can't say the same for receiving on the tongue in my home parish.

Some people received Communion; others did not.

I took my missal and we read the Mass as the priest prayed. Since the TLM is mostly silent, problems with hearing (It was very windy.) and seeing (There were a lot of cars.) didn't affect us much.

The Mass was offered by an SSPX priest from Maryland. I found out after the fact that Bishop Burbidge, our local ordinary, had a statement on the diocesan website. Here's the statement:

Statement regarding Society of Saint Pius X gathering in Virginia: 

Based on recommendations from the public health and scientific communities, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge maintains his directive that all public Masses in the Diocese of Arlington are suspended until further notice. We have been notified that the Society of Saint Pius X, which is a schismatic sect and not in full communion with the Holy See, is holding Masses in Front Royal, VA. This group did not request permission for their gathering from the Diocese of Arlington. 

Bishop Burbidge highly encourages the faithful to follow the guidance of public health and scientific leaders and stay home whenever possible. In order to stop the spread of coronavirus, all people, including those of religious faith, must be willing to make temporary, uncomfortable sacrifices for the long-term good and health of the community.

The Diocese will be live streaming Holy Week Masses at ArlingtonDiocese.org and through the diocesan Facebook and YouTube accounts.

SSPX Parking Lot Traditional Latin Mass in Allendale, MI -- 4th Sunday of Lent, March 24th

Back to the uproar on Facebook. I'm accused of committing a mortal sin for disobeying my bishop and also that I'm willing to infect and kill people by being in public at a Mass despite the strict distancing rules. And, of course, I'm misleading people into thinking they can go to an SSPX Mass, etc, etc....

I'm not interested in arguing and at this point I'm just responding with a Hail Mary over every comment whether positive or negative. And I'm also going on a Facebook fast for the rest of Lent. I'm one day in and can say unreservedly it was the best decision I could make.

But did I, in fact, disobey the bishop? This appears to be a carefully worded statement. Nowhere does the bishop impose any kind of judgment or penalty on those who attended the Mass. Ironically, he didn't even urge people not to go. He simply stated the fact that, based on government recommendations, he has suspended public Masses in the Diocese of Arlington. Then he urged us to "follow the guidance of public health...leaders."

Think about that for a minute. These are the same public health leaders who are allowing the slicing and dicing of little babies to continue uninterrupted during the pandemic. Gathering at the abortuary is fine; gathering for the Mass (with more than ten in the congregation) is not. So the bishop tells us we should follow government guidelines. Hmm...we all know what a friend the government is to the weakest and most vulnerable as well as to the Church. Don't we?

In fact, the bishop's statement did not address the people of God except to "highly encourage(s) the faithful to follow the guidance of public health and scientific leaders." Which, let me point out, the Mass at the fairgrounds did. So...did I disobey the bishop? I think a Jesuit would have to say no.

With regard to the SSPX being "in schism." A number of prelates have said that isn't so including two who headed the commission, Ecclesia Dei. But I leave that argument to others. Here's what Fr. John Hardon, that bastion of orthodoxy, said about attending SSPX Masses during a conference on liturgical abuses:

I will begin each resolution what is a crisis with a short title. First, attending a Lefebvre Mass - among Catholic Cannon lawyers there is a divergence of opinion. One group canonists conclude that Catholics attending Sunday Mass in a traditionalist church, whereby traditionalist we mean Lefebvres although as I know there are other traditionalist churches not coming from Archbishop Lefebvre. The first group of canonists declares Roman Catholics may attend such a Mass. However they also hold that a person that is a Catholic may be violating his separate obligation to maintain communion with the Catholic Church. Moreover scandal must be avoided when people see an otherwise faithful Roman Catholic regularly attending the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated by a priest who is publicly known to be out of communion with the Bishop of Rome. That one group of canonists. 

Other cannon lawyers take another position. They write it makes no sense to speak of Catholics fulfilling an obligation which they have within the Catholic Communion, but participating in a Mass which is outside that Catholic Communion. According to them therefore, if a Catholic attends such a Mass on a Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation he or she has not fulfilled their obligation. 

Now my own opinion which I have been giving now for years. In my judgment, Catholics do fulfill their duty of assisting at Sunday Mass by attending in the Holy Sacrifice a church affiliated with those who are members with a schismatic group like the Lefebvres. But then I also must add the Catholics be sure at those seeing them attending these schismatic Masses are not scandalized into thinking that professed Roman Catholics have given up their fidelity to the Bishop of Rome.

He reiterated this at two retreats I made with him, when asked by participants. I HEARD HIM and what is written above is essentially what he said.

Of course, he did not have in mind the idea that bishops would ban public Masses throughout the entire country. (I wonder what he would say about that!) He was talking about Catholics having their children scandalized by local gong-show Masses celebrated by modernist priests. Their Masses, while licit, might very well be invalid. (My husband and I didn't receive Communion at a Mass in Hampton once because we doubted its validity.) And many bishops do nothing to rein in the scandals. The SSPX Masses, on the other hand, are valid, but illicit, as was the Mass in Front Royal. But since it is currently THE ONLY CHOICE, I went in good conscience and will probably go again if it continues. 

But isn't it interesting that the only ones trying to find creative ways to offer the Mass and bring Christ to His flock during this pandemic are the bishops and priests of the SSPX? Ironic eh, while they continue to be vilified by so many. Here are the SSPX guidelines during the pandemic. 

One other interesting titbit. We had a confirmed case of coronavirus in our parish of a person who attended Sunday Mass (10:00 a.m.) on March 15th before the bishop suspended Masses the next day. My daughter and her family attended that Mass but sat on the other side of the church. The health department advised our priests to go into voluntary quarantine until March 29th. We have heard of NO other cases in the parish as of today, two days after the end of the advised quarantine.

In conclusion, when the Mass is restored at our local parishes I will return with joy. I go to my little parish church every morning to pray the Mass in my Magnificat. This morning there were four of us in the church. In the meantime, I will do what I can to receive the bread of life despite the ranting rages of the Facebook and other Church monitors. And I thank God for the priests of the SSPX whose bishops allow them to continue serving the little ones -- i.e., US. 

To all my Facebook "friends," you follow your conscience; I'll follow mine!