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Monday, May 24, 2021

FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, WE’RE FREE AT LAST!

 


On Pentecost Sunday our bishop allowed all parishes to open all pews, return Holy Water to the fonts and hymnals to the pews (which we did several weeks ago) as well as pass the baskets for the collections, which we also did several weeks ago. He asks people who are not family or friend groupings to observe a 3 1/2 distancing in the pews. While masks are encouraged, they are not mandated and those fully vaccinated have no need to wear a mask. Richmond Hill’s government never mandated the use of masks throughout the pandemic and our public schools have had in class attendance since the beginning of the school year now coming to a conclusion. For the new school year no on-line classes are offered and masks are not mandated for our public schools. Our attendance is once again approaching pre-pandemic attendance. God willing we will keep going forward with normalcy with courage and not fear and anxiety. BE NOT AFRAID!

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vaccine and mask wearing question....it seems most areas will be lucky to see 50-70% vaccination rates.

50% of population has already been infected in states which stayed open going by plummeting infection numbers prior to vaccine distribution.

Many of those vaccinated are also those who were prior infected and never knew it, meaning still that a really large 30-50% of population still vulnerable.

Those who are vaccinated and those who were mildly infected can still both catch the virus and pass it on to others, only difference now being the prior exposed/vaccinated far more likely to have a mild case, while still contagious.

Which was the reason masks were urged and all the other precautions were taken in the first place. Unmentioned today is the large pool of folk still vulnerable.

But now with not much changed, it is suddenly back to normal.

Either what everyone WAS doing never made sense, or what people are doing NOW makes no sense. But it cannot be both. I am waiting to see what happens to make that call.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

This is going to be like “who shot President Kennedy.” It won’t be solved on this side of life or known until we are on the other side. While I question the conspiracy theories concerning how mass media was able to thwart is re-election, which they did by banning him on social media platforms, the President of the USA, mind you, there are other conspiracy theories that this madness was concocted to get rid of the president and what was truly phenomenal about his Presidency which would have gotten him re-elected, and that is the economy. Overnight that collapsed with the shut down. Now that Biden is securely in place, no need to keep that sham in place.

Anonymous said...

Banning Trump from mass media platforms did not thwart his re-election.

The majority of Americans, for a second time, voted for his opponent. THAT is what got him booted.

Regarding his being banned, that Trump was president of the USA is unimportant; a president is subject to the same rules and regulations as the rest of our citizenry. Nixon tried to claim otherwise: ""Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." (Nixon-Frost interview, Part 3) Nixon imploded.

Trump tried the same tactic: "Then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president." (Turning Point USA Conference 7/22/19) And again, "Article 2 allows me to do whatever I want. Article 2 would have allowed me to fire [Mueller]." (June 2019)

Enough of us got tired of the lies, the conceit, the transactionalism, the decline in the international standing of our government and country, the adultery, the third-grade name calling, etc.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

I am sure you would applaud President Biden. Sing banned if the right wing controls social media. Tw. Since when has a President been elected on popular ore? It is the electoral college that does so by popular vote. That was true of Trump, Biden and every President for decades upon decades.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Biden BEING banned...

Anonymous said...

My question has less to do with politics and more with bishops.

They shut down EVERYTHING from Lent to June in most places to protect the vulnerable, of which are the majority today in churches, older and many preexisting health problems ranging from high blood pressure to poor circulation to poor lungs and often far worse health problems.

Then reopened with precautions while saying attending might kill you but that is on you and attendance is optional.

Now NO precautions, attendance now mandated under holy obligation.

All the while nothing has really changed as for the vulnerability of a significant percentage of population, especially in churches, the virus has not gone away, yet, and it still can be passed by both prior infected AND vaccinated, and now nearly ZERO precautions to protect those folk.

This is psychotic. And we are supposed to trust the leaders who still will deny it their fault if an outbreak in a church among the elderly.

Anonymous said...

And by precautions, am not talking essentially useless non-medical grade unrated masks, but instead talking the returned shared contact points, crowding, dropping (again) of basic hygiene principles KNOWN to minimize infection spread for 100yrs and more.

Now back to the way it was before, even while virus still very much out there. Meanwhile, how are wafers handled from when they arrive, and by whom, until consumed? There never was even a national or likely diocese standard for that during entire outbreak, much less now.

But, be not afraid? MUST attend? Trust the psychotic response?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Medication 💊 can do miracles for your anxiety disorders and OCD. Mass attendance grips too.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Helps too!

Anonymous said...

Staying away given the haphazard, disjointed, inconsistant, and now uncaring response seems far better than snide responses of "America-better life through chemicals" to legitimate questions.

But, just tell folk to wear ineffective masks if they are that worried, right?

Anonymous said...

If Biden is banned for breaking the rules of PRIVATE companies' social media platforms, that would be fine.

That's what Trump did, though he thought that being president meant he could do whatever he wanted.

PRIVATE companies are not obliged to allow people to misuse their platforms, to violate the rules they set for users. Twitter and FaceBook gave Trump FAR more leeway then others because of his position. But being a man of utterly uncontrollable apetites, he could not restrain his worst behaviors.

Anonymous said...

yessir, Father...for someone who goes on and on as to how a shared chalice is a pandemic waiting to happen, to which I agree, for you to suggest medication to someone worried, as to how wafers are handled and by whom, and worried by dropping of essentially all other precautions as well, in time of a REAL pandemic, is about as petty and low as can be, not to mention screamingly inconsistant as have been the bishops responses. You go ahead and make snarky comments as to why people are not returning, and then wonder why.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

People not manipulating or manipulated by the pandemic are returning to Mass and other social events. WOW did you see the crowds at the golf tournament in Kiawa, SC when Mickelson won???? Fantastic and kudos to all there and all enabling it.

C.W. said...

It has been interesting to see many ordinaries revoke dispensations concerning Mass attendance. It seems additional time could have been granted for the faithful to see how ‘it all works out.’ Allowing individual communities to make decisions seems reasonable. It seems somewhat tenuous to in effect compel faithful back into what may be uncomfortable or perhaps unhealthy environments.

When considering the effects of social media bans on the previous presidential election it may be helpful to keep in mind the bans seem to have begun in January 2021 following the incident at the Capital Building. The election was held in November 2020.

-RF

Anonymous said...

Yeah, we saw the crowds at Kiawah (note spelling). We saw their boorish behavior and their inconsiderate rushing forward and jostling of both Mickleson and Koepka. They had to be manhandled by the security men working the event!

From Golf.com written by Luke Kerr-Dineen: "Koepka’s walk up 18 was slow and cramped. He kept his eyes locked onto the ground, and his head bowed as the noise intensified. He needed a birdie. Mickelson needed to three-putt. Security had formed a box around him, about the size of a small elevator shaft. What was he thinking? Trying to stay focused, I assumed. Professional golfers, I like to say, are essentially robots. What else could Koepka be thinking about in this moment but the next shot he needed to hit?

Turns out, what was going through his mind was far more human.

“I don’t think anybody really understands, unless you’re coming out of surgery how, when there’s five people kind of standing by your knee, you get a little skittish,” he said afterwards, obviously referring to the knee doctors worked on months earlier.

Things came to a grinding halt at one point. The smallest of steps forward had became a standstill.

“Guys, we gotta get through” a security guard bellowed at the crowd, which didn’t part as much as it got pushed through. Koepka was worried about his knee.

“It got bumped a few times,” he said. “Somebody jammed [my caddie] Rickie. Rickie stopped unintentionally because he got drilled in the face, and then I got drilled in the bag because he got stopped so quickly. It feels like s— right now.”

Yeah, they're SURELY and example worth following. Kudos? No, lifetime bans from sporting events.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Your need to control other's behaviors is interesting. You must be one frustrated soul. Give it up and be happy.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Just remember, a controlling person is also a manipulative person. I recommend you stay out of law enforcement.

Anonymous said...

No, people need to control their OWN behavior.

There's nothing manipulative about calling out the inappropriate behavior of people who misbehave. Spoiled brats grow up to be spoiled adults and it is their failure to control their OWN behavior that burdens those of us who know how to behave.

Ward Stradlater said...

It's amazing, but not surprising to see so many people marching to the "lockstep" narrative of the globalist-controlled media with their Trump-hating vitriol. It's also an indication of just how scared they truly are.

That said, I would suggest that besides the opportunity this "crisis" provided to try to remove Trump (and make no mistake, the globalists and the transnational criminal organization we call the CCP needed him gone) Covid was also a dress-rehearsal for something bigger to come. Now the folks at the World Economic Forum and their lackeys know just how easily everyone will follow orders and surrender their freedoms.

Just a dry-run for something worse that will be coming soon. You are quite right Father, one of the hallmarks of totalitarianism is the need to control others, regardless of the verbal gymnastics its apologists use to try to smooth over their intentions.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous,

Since you are one of the elite who controls his own behavior so well, perhaps you might set an example for the rest of us, but ceasing to call people you disagree with names, like "spoiled brats". Of course, I'm not telling you what to do or even what you should do. Think of it as a mild suggestion. And when I think of you, I'll think of Gretchen Whitmer wagging her finger at me in a perpetual sanctimonious scold!

Anonymous said...

Spoiled brats are spoiled brats. Steak tartar is steak tartar. Sodium chloride is sodium chloride.

Why it is problematic to you, and maybe others, that I call a spade a spade is beyond me. Unless... you were in the crowd at the Kiawah Island Ocean Course behaving like a barbarian and don't like being called out!

Or maybe you think their disrespectful behaviour was perfectly acceptable?

In any case...

Anonymous said...

Apples and oranges. Sporting events are only going to reflect the culture at large. The American left has long abandoned any pretense of civility or self-restraint, as we watched city after city fall prey to BLM and Antifa devotees attacking innocent people, spewing their vile obscenities and destroying billions of dollars of property, seizing an opportune "moment" in the name of "fighting racism" (or perhaps creating more of it). So we're going to be lectured now about crowd behavior at a golf tournament?

Is such behavior acceptable? Of course not. But to compare that to the vile chaos we've witnessed for the last year is disingenuous at best. It was the left that decided to politicize everything. Now you get to live with the consequences.

Anonymous said...

Prather, I rarely post here and don’t normally disagree with you, but this thread and your comments leave me conflicted. In particular, your comment about the PGA Kiawah tournament finish on Sunday. I’m a nonapologetic golf fan, and a pretty huge “Mick” fan. I loved watching ole Phil pull one more out of the bag. But that mob scene on 18 was appalling and unacceptable. I don’t know how Koepka withstood it physically or mentally. His knee had been causing him pain all week; how he and caddy finally made it out to the 18th green having to fight their way through that uncontrolled mob made MY knee hurt. It was a love-hate finish for me.

Anonymous said...

Sporting events or symphony concerts, spoiled brat behavior is spoiled brat behavior.

If you want to see the abandonment of of civility or self-restreaint from the RIGHT, just watch a few videos of Trump supporters at, oh, I don't know, the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Yeah, there's a model of civility exhibited by the RIGHT

Oh, you might watch videos - there are lots of them - of RIGHTists attacking news reporters, spewing their lies and venom. Or RIGHTist folks attacking immigrant youth, or Lindsay Graham attac ked by RIGHTists at the airport

Or, heck, you might waych a few videos of Trump himself being, shall we say, less than civil. And you know where you can start, with the grab her by the p***y video.

Anonymous said...

Well anonymous, again, compared to the BLM nihilism that our current "validly elected" government is trying to legitimize, your examples are small potatoes. Almost miniscule.

None of those behaviors are excusable. But for sheer scale and depth of violence, I'd feel far safer with just about any right wing group than I would with the barbarians who are poised to destroy America.

Anonymous said...

"Poised to destroy America..."

Right....

Better get yer prepper gear, yer ammo, yer Jim Bakker freeze dried survival foods, yer camo pyjammas. etc ready. Them BLMers are coming for yer portfolio!

Anonymous said...

When reason fails, scoffing and mockery take over.

Anonymous said...

In case you forgot, or just willfully decided to ignore it, the three women who founded BLM are all MARXISTS who hold just about anything of traditional values and democracy in utter contempt.

Just in case you forgot, or just willfully decided to ignore it, these are people who cannot persuade anyone on the merits of their ideas, so they resort to cowardly bully tactics like shouting strangers down in restaurants, yelling obscenities against anything they perceive as unjust and destroying property.

Just 9in case you forgot, or just willfully decided to ignore it, BLM and Antifa have openly demonstrated that their "answer" to racism is to practice their own brand of racism and demonize any group they deem as "the enemy". They are not interested in rationally debating anyone. If they say you are unfairly "privileged", that's it. Discussion is over. Just shut up and take it while they shout you down, call you names, sucker punch you from behind and try to make sure you lose your job and livelihood for daring to so much as disagree with them.

You can worry about your portfolio. I am worried about my family and my home.

Anonymous said...

With all those worries, isn't it time you looked for greener pastures like Russia or Belarus or Hungary or Poland where the nationalists keep the opposition under their thumbs, where dissidents are arrested and/or disappear, where Judiciary branches are wiped out, or where the opposition is poisoned?

As for bully tactics, look only to your cult leader who never missed a chance to belittle, insult, or lie about those who, in a free society, disagreed with or criticized him. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Anonymous said...

Why should any American who appreciates what we have always had look for "greener pastures"? It is the LEFT who condemns America and distorts its history and desires to change everything. No, I choose to stay and resist and preserve what has made our nation the envy of the world.

I have no cult leader. I support leaders who are willing to put America first and stop kowtowing to globalist interests that put cheap labor and mass profit ahead of its people. If that leader is Trump, fine, you don't like him. Despise him all you like, but his policies brought new life to our economy and energy independence and a more affordable life for many of us. Trump won't be around forever, but others, like Ron De Santis, for example, fit the template of an "America First" leader I could support.

You'll just have to keep hating, I guess. But at least you can label everyone you disagree with as "cult members" "bigots", "privileged" and resort to name-calling when your ideas don't sell.

But to have the hypocrisy to support insurrectionist/seditious organizations like BLM and Antifa who hate America and are trying to redefine it and at the same time tell those of us who love our country to
"look for greener pastures"? Wow.


Wow.

Anonymous said...

WOW?

You're the one who fears a Marxist BLM takeover.

I'm suggesting that, since you fear hearing about "Marxists" and BLM takeovers of your home and family, you go to places where such opposition to the government is not tolerated. There you can live in security and without anyone challenging the system.

Your cult leader is Trump who expressed and ginned up the same fears, who created the boogeymen to be afraid of, who exaggerated threats, gaslighting the gullible. Cheap Labor and Mass Profit, if you have not noticed, were Trump's raison d'etre.

The "you hate him" meme is worn out, used by people who want to feel morally superior to those they call haters. I hate no one. I find Trump morally repugnant, ethically bankrupt, dangerously egotistical, and tragically transactional.

The idea, by the way, did sell. He lost the election.

Anonymous said...

BLM - for a few of their highest ranking leaders - also stands for Buy Large Mansions.

Anonymous said...

I don't fear "hearing" about Marxists and their front groups. I fear the damage they can do if we don't stand up to them.

Opposition to the government has always been constitutionally protected in our nation. However, there are avenues for opposition and destroying cities isn't one of those avenues.

Trump? Yeah, he's not a traditional politician. Sorry you don't like (I won't use hate) that. What shocks me the most is that the Democrats haven't found their "outsider" candidate yet. Trump, more than anything, reflects how Americans are fed up with career politicians who promise away and deliver nothing. Love him or dislike (because you never hate) him, he delivered on more promises than any president in either party that I've witnessed in my lifetime.

And no, the ideas of BLM didn't sell any more than Trump "lost" the election. Or did you forget about the Democrat incumbents in the House who ganged up on Pelosi after the election, complaining that all this "defund the police" nonsense almost cost them their seats?

Amazing how when Democrats cry "fraud" we get to hear about it for four years (or longer) but if the Republicans raise concerns, it's all IMMEDIATELY labeled as a "false narrative". Speaks volumes about our media.

Anonymous said...

"Not a traditional politician" is a very true statement.

How is he not traditional?

US politicians dont side with dictators as Trump did.

US politicians, recognizing their limitations, don't claim to be experts, knowing more than anybody else, in nearly everything. He claimed that exalted standing about drone technology, campaign finance, the military, ISIS ("I know more about ISIS than the generals do."), courts ("I know more about courts than any human being."), banking ("I'm the king of banking"), construction ("Construction is what I know, I say nobody knows it better"), trade, "I know more about steel workers than anybody that's run for office," and on and on and on.

US politicians don't behave in ways that lead our country's standing in the world's appreciation to new lows.

You didn't say BLM's ideas didn't sell. You said, "You'll just have to keep hating, I guess. But at least you can label everyone you disagree with as "cult members" "bigots", "privileged" and resort to name-calling when your ideas don't sell."

Yep, my ideas - that Trump was a disaster and a terrible president - sold. 81,268,924 for Biden, 74,216,154 for Trump.

Anonymous said...

We shall see. An audit is currently taking place in Arizona to see just how the "sale" went in Maricopa county. Audits will soon be following in other places, like Georgia as well. LEGAL means of challenging what we disagree with. We don't have to burn down any cities to make our point. We shall see.

And before you beat the old canard about the Capitol break-in on January 6th, I challenge you to be honest enough to go back and look at the video. Hundreds of thousands of people surrounded the capitol that day and a very small, almost microscopic, by comparison, group actually went in. Nahhh, ignore that. Just keep repeating YOUR big lie.

Not convinced said...

I, for one, find it extremely hard to believe that Biden LEGITIMATELY won the election for several reasons.

1. The statistical anomalies of the vote jump in the latest hours and early morning hours of the election are just a bit beyond believability.

2. Compare the crowds that came out to see Trump v. the crowds that came out to see Biden.

3. Presidential winners have coattails. The Democrats LOST seats in the House and the Georgia special election is tainted with questions and an inability to validly demonstrate a chain-of-custody for too many mail-in ballots.

4. Biden getting MORE votes than Obama? It's enough to make one laugh!

Anonymous said...

Arizona's recount has been disavowed by the Arizona Republican party. The tampering done by the "audit" firm, which has ZERO experience in such matters, may render the machines useless and they'll have to be replaced.

I've looked at the videos and the photographs. The Trump supporting hoardes stormed the Capitol, damaged government property, stole government and personal items, and killed 5 people.

Georgia is NOT holding a fourth recount - they are planning to look only at votes in Futon County. The results will be the same.

The reality of the elections is known to anyone who wants to accept it. The ludicrous "The Election Was Stolen" garbage is just that - garbage.

Anonymous said...

Good point--recounts are useless, because we've already recounted fake votes in several states.

A forensic audit is the ticket. Chain-of-custody legal votes are what count.

Like I said, we'll see.

Sophia said...

Sophia here: Correction-Anonymous (10:17 A.M.), only one person was killed during the rioting
at the Capitol-the unarmed Air Force Vet, Ashli Babbitt who was shot by a Capitol Policeman, when she was trying to climb through a broken window adjacent to the House chamber. Of the other 4, 3 died of natural causes, including officer Sicknick -who actually died from a stroke but was first falsely reported as having died from injuries sustained during the riot- and one died of an acute amphetamine OD.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/07/capitol-riot-deaths-cause-death-released-4-5-not-sicknick/7128040002/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/19/politics/brian-sicknick-death-us-capitol-riot/index.html