“Since the pandemic began, we have not had a single outbreak,” Fr. Marc Guelfucci, the parish priest of the church in question, told a group of journalists outside of his church.
...
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Reims, northeastern France, have reportedly opened criminal investigations into two Easter Masses offered at the Church of St. Joan of Arc for not wearing masks.
Paris archbishop opens canonical proceedings against parish over maskless Masses.
Since when does the Church act as an arm of the state? Does the Archbishop have medical knowledge or special expertise? And who is at risk if no one gets sick?
Isn’t disobeying your Bishop a problem? I understand talking to them when you disagree with their decision, but refusing to wear masks when he has told everyone to do so seems like an obedience problem. What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteThe question of obedience seems like a simple one, but a little bit of thought will reveal that there are many sides to it.
DeleteOne is -- does the bishop have the authority to mandate masks? One can't demand obedience in a matter for which one has no authority.
Another is -- can obedience be required always, or are there limits? Is it possible to abuse authority? Does this mandate represent such an abuse (even granting that the bishop has the authority, which I do not).
If they priest believes (due to his research in the pursuit of the truth) that masks are ineffective at preventing the transmission of disease, then he cannot in good conscience wear a mask under the auspices of it preventing the spread of disease.
DeleteWhen discussing the eighth commandment, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,
"2468 Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity, or candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy."
An ecclesiastical authority, such as a Bishop, does not have the authority to direct someone, even a priest under obedience, to violate one of the ten commandments. In this case to force a priest to participate in the deception that masks are effective at preventing the spread of disease which is not in accord with showing oneself to be true in deeds. On the other hand, if the priest does believe that masks as effective, then he may be breaking the fifth commandment.
I'd guess that the priest and the bishop have different beliefs about the effectiveness of masks which is leading to the conflict.
Our archbishop mandated masks to be worn at all times on the grounds of all parishes in our archdiocese... if we don’t do it, we, I assume, will be asked to leave or put a mask on if we want to stay. My issue is, if I in good conscience would like to not wear one, should I stand my ground and then not be able to attend mass? Or because I need to be at mass, do I just wear one? Also, at what point can I decide that I am not going to make my children wear one? There doesn’t seem to be much room for anyone to make their own decision
ReplyDeleteNo there isn't. And that is not right. The men have to go talk to him.
Delete