Covid-19, Filling Empty Churches, and the Eucharist

As a result of a botched medical procedure in September 2019, I was transferred to a hospital ICU, then to hospital rehab, then to skilled nursing, and now I am residing at St. Camillus, a Catholic Assisted Living facility. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, no visitors are allowed – not even my wife but recently we are allowed to leave the premises for doctors’ appointments and family visits.

Before the coronavirus restrictions, Masses were celebrated here on both Sundays and weekdays; but now we residents watch them on closed-caption television. A few participants are allowed at Mass if they maintain the proper “social distance.” No shaking of hands at the “kiss of peace,” etc.

The church experience here echoes the situation in many Catholic churches, now. But some Christian churches, citing their allegiance to a higher calling, have resisted the CDC guidelines, ignoring social distancing. For example, in mid-March, Florida Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, head of the River at Tampa Bay Church, declared before his packed congregation (before being arrested) : “I’ve got news for you: This church will never close.” Rev. Rodney-Browne was released from jail a month later, after promising to use “social distancing” at church. No remarkable infections have been reported from the March gathering. However, a number of pastors who boasted their ecclesial immunity have died from Covid-19.

In some more traditional congregations, pastors have continued sharing communion under both species. One pastor, the Reverend Charleston David Wilson, offers the following scientific justification:

According to the American Journal of Infection Control, “no documented transmission of any infectious disease has ever been traced to the use of the common communion cup.”

That journal article from 1998 has been widely cited by supporters of the communion tradition. Also cited is a 1988 article from the Journal of Infection:

Currently available data do not provide any support for suggesting that the practice of sharing a common communion cup should be abandoned because it might spread infection.

I am reminded of a criticism by the 19th-century German philosopher, G.W.F. Hegel, who was a Lutheran ex-seminarian and wrote much about the philosophy of religion: He criticized the “children of Christian private religion” who are terrified of being  “infected by drinking from the fraternal communion chalice cup immediately after someone suffering from venereal disease.”

I personally have never heard of someone catching a disease from sharing “the communion cup.” Could this be a significant unreported miracle? Or simply an issue never subjected to sufficiently stringent scientific investigation?

If the recalcitrant churches presently flouting the CDC guidelines ended up with no congregation-sourced infections, this could be food for thought –  offering an important issue for analysis in the scientific journals concerned with understanding infectious disease.

Catholic churches in our diocese and most others, following state guidelines, typically conformed to state lockdown orders. Unfortunately, the lockdown applied to the great feast of Easter, as well as Mercy Sunday a week afterward. And Confession, which usually requires close contact with a priest, was hard to come by. However, some creative priests at parishes with large parking lots were able to provide “drive-in” Masses for mobile Catholics. But recently Catholic churches have reopened in some states.

But – looking forward –  how, if at all, will the nation-wide “war on infection” in past months affect our post-coronavirus Church, in which citizens have undergone systematic training to limit contacts and keep safe distances?

President Trump’s infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, maintains, “I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you”! He sees this new interlude of social customs as a great boon to national health: “Not only would [not shaking hands] be good to prevent coronavirus disease – it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country.” So the new brave citizenry of 2021 may adopt the Japanese custom of bowing to those they meet, from a safe distance.

When the coronavirus statistics finally “plateau” and then head downward, will we witness Catholics, properly trained to keep “social distancing” in public, maintaining this new habit at Mass? Of course, this would put a damper on the Novus Ordo practice of hand-shaking or hugging at the “kiss of peace.” By extension, it may possibly change some cultural expressions of bonhomie in the secular society and the business world.

President Trump, who says that he never has felt comfortable with the practice of shaking hands, in business dealings and also in politics – will no doubt be pleased.

Will Catholics, tired of their mere “virtual” presence at TV Masses, return to church attendance again, happy to just enjoy the gift of the Real Presence at Mass once more? Or, having been drilled in avoiding gatherings of 10 persons or more, will they forego Mass as a patriotic, health-motivated, duty?