Action against closing of churches

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The patience of people had been strained against the closing of churches and the gathering for religious purposes. Now legal and extra-legal action is being taken by people who believe that this action of government is not only inappropriate, but a conspiracy to enforce a new code of behavior controlled by the government.

A suit was filed by the First Liberty Institute is representing Tabernacle Baptist Church of Nicholasville, Kentucky where the governor had issued an emergency order that prevented people from lawfully meeting in person. The order banned in-person gatherings that don not qualify as “life-sustaining,” ostensibly in the name of containing the spread of COVID-19. The suit follows another lawsuit by Maryville Baptist Church in Bullitt County.

Last Thursday, LifeSiteNews reported that Catholic clergy led by former papal nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Cardinals Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Joseph Zen, and Janis Pujats have joined an appeal “for the Church and the world” that warns that the COVID-19 pandemic is being used as a “pretext” by world leaders to “control” people, strip them of their fundamental rights, while providing a “disturbing prelude to the realization of a world government beyond all control”.

The Cardinals claimed that “In the face of restrictions around the world on the public celebration of the sacraments,” they “assert the right of the Church to offer public worship, unimpeded by State interventions.”

The Cardinals explained that “as Pastors responsible for the flock of Christ, let us remember that the Church firmly asserts her autonomy to govern, worship, and teach. This autonomy and freedom are an innate right that Our Lord Jesus Christ has given her for the pursuit of her proper ends. For this reason, as Pastors we firmly assert the right to decide autonomously on the celebration of Mass and the Sacraments, just as we claim absolute autonomy in matters falling within our immediate jurisdiction, such as liturgical norms and ways of administering Communion and the Sacraments. The State has no right to interfere, for any reason whatsoever, in the sovereignty of the Church.”

The signatories ask that “restrictions on the celebration of public ceremonies be removed.” Along with the 4 cardinals signing the appeal are 8 bishops, 3 priests, 21 journalists, 11 medical doctors, 13 lawyers, 18 teachers and professionals, and 12 various groups and associations.

These are yet feeble but courageous voices for indeed the action of closing the churches and denying the religious services are broad and all encompassing. If the government had bothered to think a little, they would have realized that closing the churches is unnecessary. Why so?

The reason for closing the churches is to prevent an assembly. Since people are prohibited from getting out of their houses, who will be gathering in the churches? Even the streets that are not “closed” are empty of people. The only people that could be in church would be the priest and the parish personnel and they cannot fill a pew. They can have one pew each. The front liners or the police may take time to go to church to pray, and they can have three pews for each.

The point is that opening the church even on a Sunday does not mean people will flock to the attend Mass because they cannot get out of their gates much less walk the street or take a ride when vehicles are not allowed to travel.

The government allowed the markets and malls to open. The market is essential and there are controls. The malls are not essential because what they sell could be had elsewhere. Malls are air-conditioned and the possibility of viral spread is higher than in few people in church.

Now public transport can ply their route with limited passengers and people wearing masks. There are not many people travelling because most are under “house arrest” or as a friend sent his photo with his wife, they are “behind bars.”

The Cardinals have probed deeper into the motivations of this pandemic and that is scary. The government is taking lots of legal shortcuts and people had accepted the draconian measures even if they ran against rationalities like closing churches because people would assemble there. The fact is that the quarantine effectively prevented people from gathering anywhere.

The “virtual Mass” can become “normal” because that is convenient and suits well to the ungodly.