Principles of Re-Opening - July 26, 2020

Time flies! Our summer is moving along quickly as this is the last weekend of July. I can’t believe that by the time this article is published I will have been at Prince of Peace already 25 days (of course I have to write this about a week earlier though). I am thinking now it is past time for me to reassess where we are at with re-opening. As of this moment writing this, I do not have all the answers, but I use this column to hone my thoughts on the principles involved. I do intend to re-think what we are doing as a church, and do so with a committee (more minds are better than one on this), and include the input of some of parishioners who have medical expertise as well.

The first principle in my mind is that our faith is absolutely essential. I don’t see how we can live without it, and faith does indeed have to be lived. Therefore, as much as possible, we need opportunities to live our faith by being able to attend Mass, receive the Eucharist, have access to other Sacraments including Confession, Baptism, Anointing of the Sick, and Holy Matrimony. I think too, opportunities to pray close to the Eucharist should be included. I would love to see if we can do more or make it easier for folks to have access to these things.

But second, and equal in importance in my mind, we must have concern for our own lives and most especially the lives of others (and most especially of those, the most vulnerable). Life is a precious gift from God and we are accountable on how we treat this gift. In Matthew 25, Jesus said we would be judged on how we treat the least our brothers (and that of course includes sisters too). The items we are judged on are all related to the body—feeding the hungry, giving drink to thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the ill, and visiting those in prison. I take from this that we must care for BOTH body AND soul, and not be reckless about either. So, to this principal, we must consider safety and how we can reduce risk to exposure to the Coronavirus.

It might seem my first two principles are in opposition, and to do one is to neglect the other. But the genius of Catholicism is always the BOTH/AND not the EITHER/OR. We believe Jesus was BOTH fully God AND man, and salvation comes to us through BOTH faith AND works (of faith and love lived out), and many, many other things such as this. When we simplify the equation to an either/or we lose so much. I do believe we at Prince of Peace can provide BOTH fully for the soul AND care for the bodies and lives of people. It will take effort by all, a sacrificial effort at the cost of some conveniences, and great creativity. Beyond these primary principles come all the rest of weighing out what government asks of us and what priests, staff, volunteers, and all the lay faithful are capable of doing. I think some have criticized the bigger Church for seemingly just taking orders from the government on how to respond to the pandemic or for not making extra effort. The reality is that we have to consider and respect all that, but we have an even higher standard from God to both live our faith and love each other. So, please pray for me and the committee as we pray and think and try to do even better at caring for all the bodies and souls of the parishioners of Prince of Peace as we re-open.

 

Peace,

Fr. Greg