You can always be assured that the organs of the contemporary Church will be profiles in expediency in kissing up to Caesar.
Burn of the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
This is abhorrent. Shame on them.
Amen, Donald and Ezabelle.
The US bishops (with the notable and rare exceptions we all know) are giving the Russian Orthodox a run for their money in sucking up to the State, never mind preserving the Faith.
Let me expand what is meant by that comment on religious liberty.
During the COVID lockdowns, Walz instituted particularly harsh stay at home orders. Infamously this even included a snitch-line for people to report on their neighbors.
These orders were not quickly lifted, but instead “dialed back.” Walz had a system where various categories of public life where put on “dials” and over time the restrictions on each would be lessened. So for example it might start where you were allowed 10 people or 25% of the capacity of the building, whichever was lower. Then later 50 people or 50% of the capacity, then 200 or 75% of the capacity, then full capacity but with masking and such still in place, etc. This led to ridiculous situations like where the Cathedral of St. Paul, which has a capacity of 3,000 people, could only have 10 people within it, effectively meaning it had to ban anyone from entering.
Now Walz eventually dialed back the restrictions to 50% capacity for various stores, casinos, bars, restaurants, strip clubs, etc. But religious gatherings were singled out as an exception; they still were limited to 10 people. What’s more, the plan came with some tentative expectations of when restrictions might be lifted further, such as removing the 50% restriction. Yet even throughout these plans the 10 person limit on religious services remained. It looked as though Walz planned to have that be the very last restriction be lifted.
In the face of such a blatantly unconstitutional and spiteful policy, Catholic bishops and some other religious leaders said that they would hold services anyway in an act of civil disobedience. This got Walz back to the negotiating table and he agreed to back off… by allowing religious services with 33% capacity. That is, religious services were still held to higher restrictions than all other events.
That’s what is meant by Walz “hearing our concerns and changing his course.” He went from a ridiculously petty level of persecution of the Church to only persecuting it on a minor level, and he only did this in the face of a scandal and legal challenges that he would be sure to lose. The bishops had requested that he lower the restrictions long before they announced that they would defy them, and Walz didn’t hear their concerns then.
Rudolph Harrier: The capacity limits are interesting when compared to the open borders position. All public gathering places have posted capacity limits for reasons of public safety. During the Cocoanut Grove night club fire capacity regulations were violated. When subject to an influx of immigrants even New York City had to cry uncle. A responsible host only invites as many guests as the host can provide hospitality for, that’s the truly neighborly thing to do. Current open borders immigration policy looks a lot like the Cocoanut Grove fire.