Greetings in Christ! All, I’m back!
For those unaware, I was out for about ten days with a virus. It was not Covid, but one that is apparently going around. I was struggling with vertigo and fatigue. My doctor put me on bedrest and it helped a lot.
I’m so grateful for your prayers and kindness while I was out. You just blew me away with your messages of love, support and prayers. I believe that 2020 was just plain brutal for most of us. Personally, I found great joy and great challenges in ministering to you and in the end, I think I just got wiped out. Please note, I make sure I am tested for Covid fairly often. Please be assured I would let you know if I had it.
So..speaking of Covid…Apparently, I need to walk us all through my decision-making process for how we’ve dealt with the state mandates regarding Covid.
I begin with a simple premise: we announce at every Mass that people should wear masks and observe social distancing. We invite people to please obey the state mandate. I have talked personally to numerous people who I see unmasked and attempted to convince them to please wear masks.
Some of you would very much like me to police the wearing of masks and refuse admittance to those who don’t wear them and trust me, you’ve been very clear about that.
I would invite you to ask yourself what that looks like. Should I stop Mass and point out people who’ve taken off their masks? Should the ushers spend Mass at the front of the Church, looking for violators and then removing them? If some people don’t remove themselves, do we call the police? Numerous priests have chosen this option and I have read their testimonies on Twitter and Facebook and, honestly, I am just not willing to go there.
At the same time, I recognize that other people’s convictions and legitimate worries bump into each other and, as a result, some people can’t go to Church because some people won’t wear masks.
When I posted this conundrum, I was contacted by a couple parishioners who offered me an idea: why not have an area for “us” in the hall? As I worked with this group, they pointed out that being in the hall while having Mass live streamed there meant that an usher could, in fact, enforce the mandate without interrupting the sacred in the same way they could during a Mass at Church. Further, the smaller space would make it easier to sterilize the area before and after Mass and social distance could be mandated simply by how the chairs are set up.
Simply put, their preference was the hall because they felt safer there. I found this to be good reasoning and agreed.
Thus, I met with my leadership team and we vigorously discussed this at great length. In the end, we set up a Mass in the hall for those who wanted to feel as safe as they could reasonably feel.
Some did not like my decision and responded: as always happens, some remembered the basics of Christian communication and some didn’t. I received praise for the decision and I received criticism, just like happens with every decision that I make.
I’m not complaining about that reality: that’s life. What I do ask you to remember is that, like you, I am a human being with feelings. I get hurt. I make mistakes. I am totally fallible. I am quite literally incapable of doing anything in this parish that will make everyone happy and honestly, I simply can’t make that my goal.
All I can do is pray, ponder, discern with my leadership team and then do my best. There will be many days where that is not enough and for those days, I ask you to forgive me and trust that I am, in fact, doing all I know how to do.
Pray that I listen to God. Pray that I lead as Jesus would. When I am wrong, pray that God forgive me.
I am blessed beyond measure to be your priest
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