Linda June watched the video

by a seemingly faithful priest of the Traditional rite (Fraternal Society of Saint Peter, FSSP) whose parish is just up the road … from me. In the video, he urges the faithful to disobey their bishops and public authorities if they instruct us to do anything unwholesome such as take the dangerous vaccine they’ll soon be rolling out. He was blunt, 

And utterly heroic! 

which called down surprising approbation from an Establishment priest in his own order.

Anyway, so I sent an email to the smart priest’s parish asking if they were holding Mass without restrictions. I guess “restrictions” are in the eye of the beholder. Here’s how the conversation went:

Me:

Hello,

I’m wondering if your parish is offering public Masses without restrictions yet? I’m hoping somewhere in Colorado we can go to Mass without fear of the track and trace threat. 

Thanks for your time! May God bless and keep everyone at OLMC.

Warmest Regards,

Linda June

The parish secretary:

Dear Linda June,

Yes our church is holding masses without tracking and there is no sense of fear among the community, which is such a blessing! The only thing that we have in place is that we are asking people to sign up for Mass via our parish Flocknote. This is just to ensure that we don’t have too many people at one Mass in order to not cause trouble with the authorities.  … Would you be interested in being added to our Flocknote so that you can get the email from one of our priests that will have the sign up for the week?

God Bless! …

Me:

Hi —,

Thank you for such a quick response! I’m afraid that signing up for Mass is tantamount to submitting to a track and trace program. My own parish uses a similar app. If the so-called “authorities” decided to trace a so-called “infected” person back to the Masses they attended, they would insist (on pain of pulling your 501-c-3 corporate status) on viewing your Flocknote lists which could jeopardize everyone who had attended a Mass within a month with the person in question. Subjecting my mother, brother, sister, their families and my friends to a forced quarantine because I happened to join a Mass with someone who later “tested positive” is unconscionable. We have enough economic disaster to deal with as it is. I can’t knowingly put them at more risk.

Call me paranoid, but with this political scamdemic and the way our Church hierarchy has shamefully played along with it ab initio, I have a difficult time trusting the continued restrictions on public Mass attendance, even if they are seemingly as innocuous as signing up for a spot at Mass. Not only is it ecclesiastically wrong,

–which ought to be reason enough to reject it–

it puts the faithful in a position to either condone the farce by participation, avoid Mass or give false information in the sign-up process. 

Speaking of false info, I do like the escape from this trap that one columnist proposed–

“This is how I plan to self identify: Paul Krugman, Keynesian economist, Tel. (212) 556-3900.” (Thanks to Mark Carroll for sending that chuckle my way.)

Linda continues:

I wish there were a fourth option, namely, brave priests willing to offer Mass in homes of the faithful until our bishops turn themselves right-side up on this mass deception known as Covid-19. …

Linda grieves that this parish doesn’t

see the sign-up protocol for what it really is. Sadly, this isn’t unexpected for the times we’re in now, but it’s still sickening. I have more respect for [another] FSSP parish [with which she’s familiar] … that doesn’t participate in the sign-up rigamarole. They just don’t have any public Masses at all that I know of. At least they’re not cheerfully inviting us to step into a pit of quicksand as if they’ve  somehow struck the right balance between pleasing the “authorities” and fulfilling their ecclesiastical duties. But you just can’t serve two masters.

What is the Church’s primary responsibility after worshipping God? Yep: preaching the Gospel to all the world. So another insurmountable problem with “reservations” (as Parson Goat put it when my church’s leadership aligned with this tyranny) pertains to visitors: what happens when a man who’s never darkened the door before but is so anxious after Our Rulers destroyed his company or job with their COVID Con that he’s seeking the Lord, shows up without having previously registered?

I asked my former pastor that question; he ignored me. By way of commiseration, I posed the same problem to Linda June. She answered,

I’m not sure what they do when people who don’t know the rules show up. The only time I tried the game was in the very beginning. All the slots for the Sunday Masses had been filled except for the 6 pm Mass, which was the one I signed up for (before the weight of the track and trace issue had really sunk in). There were a few who had not signed up, but since there were lots of slots still available, they allowed  the “loose ones” in after they gave their names and addresses.

I was impressed by a young man whose wife had been waiting outside with us. She said her husband had volunteered to man the door, but had begun to regret the decision. He would not turn anyone away who wanted to attend and fully realized that he would get in some trouble for it. He had determined to fulfill his commitment that evening but had withdrawn his agreement for future duty. I congratulated his wife for having chosen such a wise husband.

I was there sans mask, as was the young wife. When others saw our naked faces, some of them removed their face diapers, too, maybe a third of the crowd of about twenty-five people. Then, the main gatekeeper came out to tell us they were almost ready to let us in. He asked if we had any suggestions for how to make this process easier. Everyone reflected a moment silently. Then I spoke up and said, “Just open the church. Just OPEN the church!” To my utter amazement, just about everyone there chimed in with a “Yeah!” or something similar. The poor, misguided gatekeeper seemed taken aback, but recovered and said they couldn’t do that and this was how things were going to be for the time being. At least he got the message. Hope he passed it along, but who knows?

Incidentally, this guy is also a local Republican party operative, so I’m not surprised he was all on board with denying entry to Mass. Politics come first in the American Christian church, not Christ, apparently. Hmm, what did Jesus tell the church of Laodicea? 

As I’ve checked in on the Mass sign-up calendar every few weeks, I notice fewer and fewer slots are getting reserved. Maybe it’s time to do a walk-up and see what happens.

At least we’re finally seeing some pushback. Let’s pray the movement grows huge!

Amen! And before our disgusted Lord spews us out of His mouth. 

The Best of Becky Akers