Over the last month or so, my wife and I have attended four out the five Masses our parish offers on weekends. At two of the Masses the church was at maybe 60 percent of capacity. During the other two Masses the church was at around 35 percent of capacity. And this past week at the Mass we attended the church was at only about 15 percent capacity!
Prior to Covid, all five of weekend Masses in the parish my wife and I are members of were very well attended. That’s not the case anymore. And I bet this is true in many other parishes as well.
Our Bishops bear the blame for this. Maybe someone should point this out to them during their Fall General Assembly in Baltimore this week (Nov. 15 – Nov. 18).
The Numbers Keep Going Down
Thanks to Covid, churches were pretty much closed by government decrees with an implied consent from bishops. Catholics in many dioceses were subsequently dispensed by their bishops from attending Mass altogether. Some Catholics watched live streamed Masses on line, but many others simply took advantage of the extra hour or so of free time each week to do other things.
In issuing the blanket Mass dispensations bishops may have felt they were being ‘pastoral.’ If people could not attend Mass due to government imposed occupancy restrictions, anyone unable to attend Mass should not be held accountable for missing Mass. Looked at in this way, a dispensation was justifiable.
But the reality is that many of our spiritual leaders allowed the government imposed restrictions without putting up any kind of fight. Being good citizens became more important than listening to God.
And so, the question that has been asked is how will shutting the churches affect Mass attendance from here on? We are seeing the answer to this question playing out before our eyes.
Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, some 56 million out of the 70 million Catholics in the U.S. were not going to Mass every week. Let’s flip that round – just 14 million out of 70 million U.S. Catholics were regularly attending Mass on Saturday/Sunday prior to Covid. That is rather pitiful.
Villanova University’s Center for Church Management, is projecting that post-Covid regular attendance at Saturday/Sunday Mass could fall to just 12 percent of U.S. Catholics. So instead of just 14 million U.S. Catholics regularly going to Mass each week, only 8.4 million U.S. Catholics out of 70 million will be going to Mass every week. That is beyond pitiful.
Our Bishops Screwed Up
Every bishop who issued wholesale Mass dispensations screwed up big time. They essentially told people that what the government says is more important than what God says. And they let fear of a bug override love of God.
Those bishops who implemented diocesan-wide Mass dispensations allowed concern for one’s health and well-being to take precedence over the Third Commandment. In abrogating the Third Commandment it’s even possible that they broke the First Commandment – they made people more important than God.
I called out the seeming dilemma our bishops were facing in an article in March 2020 but stopped short of chastising the bishops who caved in to government Covid mandates. In retrospect, I should have lambasted them.
When a bishop says living and staying healthy are more important than caring for your immortal soul and worshiping God, there is something wrong with the bishop’s thinking. He is making our lives here on earth more important than spending eternity in heaven with God. He is looking at things from a worldly perspective rather than a spiritual one.
I have to wonder if such a bishop is a worthy successor of the apostles and worthy of the title “Bishop.”
Mass is No Big Deal?
I also have to wonder if, thanks to the dispensations, in a world that is trying real hard to pretend there is no such thing as sin any more (or at least trying to make sin into something “normal”) many Catholics apparently now think that it is no longer a mortal sin to miss Mass on Sunday?
One commenter here at CS wrote recently that, “those 7 of 10 who are not gracing a pew do not believe in any way that this is a mortal sin. They intuitively understand that there is more than one way to keep a day holy, that the mass is an invite, not a subpoena.”
But IF this is how those Catholics are rationalizing their sinfulness they are not just breaking the Third Commandment they are also exhibiting the sin of pride. They are in essence saying, “I know better than the Church.”
For the Hebrews, God let Moses and the priests decide how to keep holy the Sabbath. They decided the Sabbath would be a day of rest, prayer, worship, and spiritual enrichment – studying the Torah. Catholics have it a lot easier. Jesus gave the apostles the authority to decide how His followers would keep Holy the Lord’s Day. And as the CCC states,
“1166 By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ’s Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord’s Day or Sunday.”
So all Catholics should know that while they are certainly free to not attend Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday, the decision to not attend Mass does have consequences. And the consequences are dire.
A Can of Worms
If fear of catching a virus that has better than a 99 percent survivability rate is a good enough reason to miss Mass, then there are most assuredly many other good reasons to miss Mass. Our prelates seem to not realize that they have opened a can of worms.
We all know that getting a good night’s sleep is important for good health. So getting enough sleep is probably more important than missing Mass as well. And making sure little Jack or Jill get to their soccer tournament – because they may never have such an opportunity again – may also be a good enough reason to miss Mass.
I think every bishop who let himself be cowed by fear and government dictates should resign. Instead of caring for the souls of their flocks they decided instead to obey unjust decrees.
Monsignor Charles Pope recently delivered “A Sobering Scriptural Warning to Rulers and Leaders.” He was addressing our political leaders but he could just have easily been addressing our prelates. He suggested leaders familiarize themselves with the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 6.
The cowed bishops will have to answer to God, of course. And we have no idea how God will judge them. However, dispensing people from worshiping God probably will not earn them any gold stars.
What to Do?
When was the last time you talked to a lapsed Catholic friend or loved one about God and the importance of going to Confession and Mass and receiving the Eucharist? As I tell the kids in the Catechism classes my wife and I teach, the single most important thing we do each week is attend Mass on Sunday receive Communion.
We talk to friends and family members all the time about all kinds of trivial matters, but when it comes to talking about God – our whole reason for being – we tend to clam up. Why is this?
Instead of just living in the world we fall into the trap of being “of the world” [1 John 2:15]. We allow our lives to revolve around politics, sports, social media, work, the latest tech, and other earthly matters, instead of God.
Our whole reason for being is to know, love and serve God. Much of the world seems to think otherwise, and too many Catholics have forgotten this as well. And it seems many of our spiritual leaders have forgotten this, too.
As Archbishop Fulton J, Sheen said back in 1974,
“Who’s going to save our Church? It’s not our bishops, it’s not our priests and it is not the religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that the priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and the religious act like religious.”
And maybe it’s also up to us to try to get our lapsed Catholic loved ones to start acting like real Catholics again. If not us, then who will?
33 thoughts on “A Message For Our Bishops As They Meet in Baltimore”
Gene Van Son: Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium 12 says: “The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, (111) [cf. 1 Jn 2:20, 27] cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples’ supernatural discernment in matters of faith when “from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” (8*) they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth.”
This is the same spiritual discernment that Paul speaks of in 1Corinthians 2:9-16. The V2 reference to 1John 2:20, 27 says: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things…But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
Maybe the Protestants know something that we don’t know.
Peter, Thanks for quoting from Lumen Gentium because it supports what I said. No one person has supernatural discernment. The supernatural discernment Pope Paul VI speaks of occurs only when “the entire body of the faithful . . . show universal agreement.” The devil can twist peoples’ thoughts and get them to err, but he cannot twist the collective discernment of the Body of Christ.
Maybe try looking at it this way: God’s truths ARE written in our hearts. The devil knows this so he is always trying to deceive us – trying to turn us from these truths. And he’s a pro at doing what he does. Certainly Christ knows this as well. This is why He instituted His Church – to provide us with ongoing guidance in all spiritual matters. And He also gave the Church the authority to set rules to help us. He was pretty clear when He told Peter (Mathew 16:19) “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
And that will be the last word on this because we are straying from the point of the article. If you want to debate whether or not we should be going to Mass on Sunday, jump over to Hunter Leonard’s article “Reclaiming Sunday.”
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Gene Van Son: You are correct in saying that God has “given us some guidance in regard to His nature and what He expects of us in the Bible and through His Son, the Word made Flesh. Jesus, in turn, instituted the Catholic Church and appointed bishops and priests to give us ongoing guidance”.
After the Word became flesh and ascended, He became a life-giving Spirit for the members of the Church. He is the Spirit of Truth. The Church compiled the Bible in the fourth century for preserving the teachings of the New Testament Church. All of this is available for us today.
If the ongoing guidance from the current teachers in the Church is lacking in any way, we can use our own supernatural discernment, go into the Bible or elsewhere, and research it for ourselves in order to “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1Thessalonians 5:21). I think that Catholics, including the clergy, have had a difficult time in coming to terms with this flexibility.
Peter, None of us have “supernatural discernment.” At best we have discernment based on a well formed conscience. Deciding for yourself how to interpret what the Bible says is Protestantism. Martin Luther said everyone could do that and now we have hundreds (some say 40,000) of denominations of Christianity. And all of these versions ignore the fact that Jesus Christ gave Peter and the Apostles, and their successors (i.e. the Catholic Church) the keys to the kingdom.
As I replied to you before, God’s Third Commandment to us says that we should keep holy His day. The Catholic Church says we fulfill this Commandment in one hour – by going to Mass. This is not coercion – this is a gift given to us by Jesus Christ’s apostles.
Catholic teaching on Faith and Morals has not changed in 2,000 years. It is Christ’s teaching and it is sound doctrine. But as Paul warned in 2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.”
Gene Van Son: Christ fulfilled the Law, “and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14).
Peter, you can’t just pick parts of verses out of the Bible and make them mean what you want them to mean, especially when they come from newer translations of the Bible. Earlier translations of the Bible are a bit clearer here: Col 2 (13) “And you, when you were dead by reason of your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought to life along with him, forgiving you all your sins, (14) cancelling the decree against us, which was hostile to us. Indeed he has taken it completely away, nailing it to the cross.” Christ did not abolish the laws of the prophets or take them away.
I find it a little odd that you effectively mock a commentator who in your opinion says “I know better than the Church” while writing an entire article about how you know better than the church.
And I’m not taking issue with your right to have an opinion on church decision-making. I disagree with you on this specific topic, but I also have zero faith in church leadership when it comes to a host of other issues. I think it’s important to take a look at why so few people come to mass rather than lambast them for it. It’s not typically laziness. It’s because the church has lost something and is missing something – Jesus. Jesus is present in the church’s language, but not its actions. We need to change that.
Kyle, I say this out of charity — you seem to have a reading comprehension problem. I did not mock a commenter. I also did not say the commenter said “I know better than the church.” (You might want to read that section again, maybe more than once if need be.)
I also am not “lambasting” those who are not going to Mass in this article. In fact, I fear for their souls. And I am not saying I know better than the Church. I am criticizing the many bishops who caved in to the Covid tyranny in regard to Mass on Sunday.
We do, however, agree that Catholics not going to Mass is an important issue. And we also seem to agree that many of our prelates are poor leaders. But I think we probably have different opinions on why so many Catholics are not going to Mass. And while there are probably many reasons, those reasons all boil down to excuses — and the father of lies is behind all of those excuses.
The institutional Church has lost its moral authority in the world as a result of the sinful actions of some priests and bishops and because many prelates have been watering down Christ’s teachings over the last 60 years. But I disagree that “the church” has lost Jesus. It is “people” who are turning away from Christ, not the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ and He is present in the most important action of the Church – He is physically with us at every Mass.
Gene, I think the same thing about you my friend. Please reread my comment. I know that you attributed the phrase “I know better than the church” to that commenter (as well as to those that think along the same lines). I consider that a form of mockery, but we’ll have to agree to disagree there.
The more important item is why people are not going to church. You blame sinful individuals caving to evil. I blame the institutional church caving to evil. This isn’t a case of “some priests and bishops” committing sins. It is the whole institutional church that was culpable – all the way to the top. This is why you see the exact same things being done in virtually every country across the world. This wasn’t a case of a bad priest or a bad bishop – it’s a case of a corrupt church. Are there “good” priests”? Most certainly the answer is yes. Do these “good” priests ever get promoted? Nope. Or maybe accidently from time to time. The institution is rotten from the inside, and it needs to be cleaned up. If the church is the vine, it is no surprise the branches are dying. The vine needs to be Jesus, but the church leadership replaced Jesus as the vine long, long ago.
NO KYLE, I DID NOT MOCK THE COMMENTER. This is one of your comprehension problems that I pointed out. You read things into statements that are not there and you twist words in an attempt to make them mean what you want them to mean. You also resort to outlandish, fallacious (i.e., not logical, irrational) statements to back up your opinions. Your opinions also tend not to be well reasoned, or well thought out. These are the reasons your comments tend to get deleted.
And with that this exchange is ended because you are taking it in a different direction. The article is not about what you imagine to be corruption in the church. It is about the failure of some bishops to be good shepherds.
Gene, If all I know and believe about those in control on earth of the earthly apparatus of Jesus’s church and all its money is true, then the bishops have not “screwed up.” They have done and are doing precisely and exactly what they have intended for decades to accomplish, and what their father, Satan, wished. Strong message to follow. Guy, Texas
You’ve got me looking forward to reading you message!
Gene Van Son: Apparently, most Catholics do not believe that the third commandment applies to them as an obligation. Are they all Protestants? This would probably get into a lengthy discussion about the place of the Mosaic Law in Christianity.
Christianity is not a religion of religious law to be obeyed: it is supposed to be a religion of the Spirit (see Romans 8:1-4).
Peter, Catholics who believe the third commandment does not apply to them are (sadly) listening to the devil’s lies. You are also reading something in to Romans 8:1-4 that is not there. Jesus own words in Mathew 5:17 refute your statement that “Christianity is not a religion of laws to be obeyed” — “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
Understanding the concept of God (theo) by learning (ology) is a universal quest that involves ALL faiths. Per your example, if Catholics in Japan have one holy day then it stands to reason that some Catholics in America may have none; that in any branch of reasoning this diversity should never imperil ones soul. It’s not about contempt but the picayune notion that in the swirling galaxies of our universe such rules of order are to
be obeyed under threat of eternal death. What kind of a saving grace would make such arbitrary demands. If I gave you a cowboy hat as a ‘gift’ that you didn’t wear (for whatever reason) it would in no way damage our friendship. If I stopped being your friend because you didn’t wear it, well, then it was never a ‘gift’ to begin with. The Body of Christ is we, the church – and as organisms grow, chaff and wheat are separated. This is why first century Catholics would “… melt with ruth” if they were suddenly filled in on 2000 years of church history. The same would happen to us now if the coming year was marked 4000 AD. THINK BIG is what I meant. I grew up and was taught that only Catholics go to heaven – this discussion is about who those Catholics are. The elephant in the room is not mass on Sunday, but the masses that are not there. It seems no one wants to speculate on the theological implications. What if the Spirit moving among us is dimming the church’s lamp stand as a way of saying its priorities are too small, that the commission to make all one has foundered because there are too many frantic Martha’s needlessly cleaning the house.
We mere mortals will never be able to understand God, try as we might. He has, however, given us some guidance in regard to His nature and what He expects of us in the Bible and through His Son, the Word made Flesh. Jesus, in turn, instituted the Catholic Church and appointed bishops and priests to give us ongoing guidance.
Christ told us His Church will triumph in the end. But He never said there wouldn’t be problems along the way. I don’t have to think big to know that the Body of Christ is made up of imperfect people who are sinners, and because of this the guidance we get is sometimes flawed because those providing it are also imperfect people who are sinners.
But I also think the only spirit dimming the church’s lamp stand is an evil spirit named Satan. His one and only goal is to turn people away from God. And too many people are listening to his lies, just as too many have listened to his lies over the past 2,000 years and many more will listen to his lies over the next 2,000 years (assuming the Second Coming does not happen first).
We imperil our own souls. We do so by being prideful instead of humble and otherwise not living virtuous lives, and by not keeping God’s Commandments or doing our best to live the Beatitudes. Those who manage to become living saints get it all right. The rest of us just kind of plod along and pray that Jesus is merciful to us when we die.
I guess many of the Saints were “pantywaists”, because they did not openly question their superiors. They trusted God to clear out obstacles when others (even priests and mother superiors) resisted his will. This is evident in many diaries of the Saints. Also, I think that Jesus is more qualified to have “righteous anger” since He is the Son of God. For us humans righteous anger often translates to pride, and that is the downfall of us all. In the imprimatur church approved book “City of God”, you can see that the Virgin Mary never has any righteous anger – not ever, and she is the most perfect creature among us all – superior even to the highest ranking angels.
Truth be told, we do not know everything about the lives all the saints. Maybe some did display righteous anger at certain points in their lives. St. Nicholas is said to have slapped Arius in a fit of righteous anger so he is at least one saint that contradicts your statement. Keep in mind too, that those saints that did not openly question their superiors took vows of obedience to their superiors. Laypeople do not take such vows.
All this being said, yes, Jesus is the MOST qualified to have righteous anger, and yes, sometimes laypeople exhibit pride and not true righteous anger. But none of this means that an ordinary layperson is incapable of true righteous anger.
Save Catholic Souls
HEAVEN or HELL – MAKE YOUR CHOICE
My dear Catholic brothers and sisters,
In the United States parish connected Catholics last year (2020) totaled over 67 million.
Less than 14 million attended Mass every week obeying God’s 3rd commandment – To keep holy the Sabbath day. More than 54 million disobeyed this commandment. Some never attending Sunday Mass. Some occasionally attending and those who attended only Christmas and Easter Sunday. This situation of declining Mass attendance has been the norm over the past sixty years and continues to decline without a solution to correct the problem. In addition, a new phenomenon of the laity is denying their faith, called “nones,” with their numbers increasing yearly. Again, without a solution to stop the exodus.
Since the main purpose of the Catholic Church is to save souls, these statistics could cause millions of souls being sent to Hell because of false presumptions of God’s mercy and judgment when a person’s life on earth ends. Just the thought of millions of souls going to Hell rather than Heaven is beyond comprehension. It appears that the vast numbers of the faithful who intentionally do not attend Sunday Mass believe it is not a grave sin or believe in God’s mercy to forgive their sins.
The purpose for drafting this article – Heaven or Hell – Make Your Choice.
To Save Catholic Souls
Believe it is God’s desire for all the baptized to go to Heaven when their earthly life ends. Also believe because God loves us, He does not make it difficult to get to Heaven. If anyone believes these truths and are still alive, their inheritance to paradise is still intact.
1. Those who die with an unrepentant mortal sin on their soul will be sent to Hell. This fact warns us never to commit a mortal sin. If a mortal sin is committed, as soon as possible, go to Confession for absolution and guidance of a priest. If there is doubt if a sin is mortal or venial, do not judge it yourself. Ask the priest in confession.
2. Concerning the 67 million Catholics in the United States
This statistic is a good example dealing with God’s 3rd commandment concerning those who attended Mass every week and those who did not. Those who attended Mass every week (about 20%) having obeyed this commandment are doing the will of God. Those who did not attend Mass every week (about 80 %) have rejected the will of God. If this act was done intentionally, knowing it was a grave sin, the sin could be mortal requiring the need to confess to a priest for absolution. It could also be mortal not knowing it is a grave sin.
3. The 80% who continue to disobey God’s 3rd commandment and foolishly take the chance of being sent to Hell is not only insane, but also stupid, senseless, and ridiculous. Only a moron would trade Heaven (not spending an hour a week with Christ) for eternity in Hell.
4. Be wise, choose Heaven not Hell. Go to confession, repent, and receive absolution. Return to Mass and receive the Eucharist. Become a prodigal son.
5. This inspired message of choosing Heaven not Hell must be sent to the millions of Catholics as soon as possible to save souls destined for Hell.
6. Send this article to every diocesan Bishop in the United States for transmitting to every parish pastor who can email it to every one of his parishioners.
7. Because this article was inspired by the Holy Spirit, we can expect many lost sheep returning to Sunday Mass and the Eucharist. With God, nothing is impossible.
8. In conclusion, these statistical results of Mass attendance in the United States, indicate that more Catholic souls are being lost to Hell because of disobeying God’s 3rd commandment than anyone could ever believe or imagine. It could also indicate that this commandment is the most disobeyed and rarely confessed sin to a priest.
Deacon John Lorenzo
Deacon John Lorenzo: The requirement for attending Sunday mass was added by the Church. It is not specified in the third commandment.
Peter, see my other reply to you.
“ … They are in essence saying, “I know better than the Church.”
Galileo knew more – and the list goes on and on. We once called it the Feast of the Circumcision (a Bris) and the all knowing church took ‘keeping holy the Lord’s day’ and extended the mortal punishment to include the day a Baby’s foreskin was removed. This is one of many reasons why the credibility of the CC has somewhat expired. When George Carlin asked ‘I wonder how all those Catholics doing eternity in hell on the meat rap feel about that’ when the mortality of Friday abstinence was dropped in favor of a Lenten discipline, the viral load increased significantly and two generation later we have the present crisis the author laments. Adding weight to the dilemma of course, is the supposition that this well versed and pious member of our church has adamantly championed the Garden allegory as history, further straining the link between faith and reason. I remember once asking this author whom I truly admire to ‘THINK’ in one bloggy exchange. I do so again. Your misunderstanding of theological evolution is the stumbling block here – but that’s alright, your heart is in the right place.
OP, thank for the kind words, but your admiration may be misplaced. I’m just an ordinary sinner, not a saint.
Secondly, there’s a lot of confusion in regard to Church Doctrine and practices. Some research can often clear up the confusion.
In regard to Holy Days, for instance, there is no ‘universal’ Catholic doctrine mandating what are holy days. Catholics in Japan have only one Holy Day of Obligation (Christmas Day) and Canada has just two (Christmas and the Feast of Mary, Mother of God). It’s kind of like a couple years ago when some Catholics were allowed to eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day when it fell on a Friday in Lent, while others were not! Tom Nash provided a good perspective on missing mass on holy days once — God knows definitively whether a person who has missed Mass on a holy day of obligation has done so with grave culpability.
George Carlin also apparently did not realize that a person breaking the ecclesiastical law of fasting to which he/she is bound does not sin mortally unless he/she acts through contempt or determined disobedience. Even so, God will judge the person, not the Church. What’s more going to Confession absolves us of our sins, imagined or real.
As to your comment on the Garden allegory, if the reference is to me, I have never claimed it to be ‘history’ and the Catholic Church does not say it is historically accurate either. And in regard to your asking me to think, if you’ll recall you previously said in that exchange that I was begging the question. But I had already answered the question in previous articles. This is why I refused to play any longer.
Finally, please tell me precisely where I am misunderstanding what you call “theological evolution.”
I can only pray that this may somehow be delivered to the bishops! No matter what others say about the state of mind of those who are not moved to attend Mass regularly, the bishops have an OBLIGATION to reinforce the teachings of the Church. All they’ve done is make it easy for the weak-willed to sin. If we waited until we felt like doing good, how many of us would? Do what you ought, not what you want. THIS is what the bishops should be teaching!
We drive 76 miles one way every Sunday to attend our FSSP parish out of our home diocese and have been doing so for nearly 30 years. Thank God for good priests!
Dóminus vobíscum Kathryn, and your family as well.
If a church is closed, and there is no Mass in the parking lot, Catholics cannot attend Mass whether there is a dispensation or not. If Mass is available, those Catholics who are really interested will attend whether there is a dispensation or not. Coerced obedience to Church law does not create a good Catholic. The willingness to meet regularly needs to be a response to a personal connection with God that is important for that person. Many people in other Christian denominations go to church regularly without an explicit mandate from their denomination to do so. I guess that the Church believes that it needs to be heavy-handed with Catholics. This tells me that there are more basic issues in the Church to deal with than whether there is a formal requirement to attend Mass or not.
This is a really good point. Faith cannot be forced! How difficult it is when our own loved ones begin to lose their faith. The best you can do is pray for them, remain humble, and always keep the invitation open while avoiding any pretense of being “holier than thou”.
Peter, are you a Catholic or a Protestant? I have to ask this question because you sound like a Protestant. Willfully Breaking any of God’s Commandment results in a mortal sin. God’s Third Commandment to us says that we should keep holy His day. The Catholic Church says we fulfill this Commandment in one hour – by going to Mass. This is not coercion – this is a gift given to us by Jesus Christ’s apostles. What’s more we get to receive Jesus Christ into our bodies at Mass providing we are free of sin. Why would any rational person say ‘no’ to these gifts?
Actually, the survivability of COVID is closer to 97% and 98%, but I understand the key point you are making. We as Catholics need to do a better job of prioritizing the mass, saying prayers, and making small sacrifices. Like going back to no meat on Friday’s or if you really want to improve choose to eat only bread and water on Wednesday’s and Friday’s like our Blessed Mother Mary has communicated during the apparitions in Medjugorje. Although I understand your frustration with church leadership, we should devote more prayers to them and less criticism. Your points are completely valid, but I would choose to communicate them to church leadership with less anger. There is too much antagonistic communication going on today, and I believe it is the work of our common enemy who is fearful of God and of Mother Mary. May God bless you!
Steven, a little righteous anger can be good thing, as Jesus Himself showed us with the money changers in the temple. We are supposed to be the Church Militant, not the Church Pantywaists.
God bless you Gene for your courage to address this topic.
Thanks Joe. I’m calling it righteous anger rather than courage, but I hope it’s not mere pride!