Save Me From The Righteous Deniers
In the book of Genesis, Jacob binds his son Isaac and readies to sacrifice him on the altar as God commanded. God comes in at the last moment, satisfied with his faithfulness and provides a ram instead. Hearing about Leon Fontaine doing drive-in services at Springs Church, the local mega-church and the Church of God congregation in Sarto, Manitoba, I don’t think God will ride to the rescue this time to offer a ram or, in this case, a vaccine. The latter takes expedited trials, and we are getting close.
We are Isaac bound on the altar, and these guys are raising the damn knife. Whatever God they are listening to, he sounds awfully like themselves. You're just saying it because you want God to sound like you, goes the counter-argument. We can play this circle game, or I try to explain the feeling deep within my soul; this virus is dangerous. It’s the feeling of watching CNN reports from Wuhan and knowing it’s not ‘over there, Fatima. It’s coming here.”
“This is my father’s world, and you’re big time interfering with God right now,” said Tobias Tissen, a pastor also quoted earlier as saying, “Being alone at home and watching a virtual service does not replace worship.” No it isn’t, and watching Mass sucks on YouTube…
Oh, wait, it’s not for me? I get it now. It’s not for the Sikhs and the Hindus who had to rearrange their Diwali celebrations, not for the Jewish community who can’t go to shul, and certainly not for the Muslims not able to gather for their services. Drive-by services are great for confessions in the states, but it’s a different story for Sunday mass.
No, the ‘my’ in ‘this is my father’s world’ is really your world. It’s the narrow world of smugness gained from Sunday services, something seen even among the Rosary-swinging Catholics I know, knowing they have all the rules down. Are things going well? Well, it must be due to all the rules I follow. Things not going well for you? Well, you don't’ follow the rules or have faith, as seen in any applicable situation from getting COVID to cancer. See, smugness can truly cross denominational lines. However, Catholics never fail to provide some mind-blowing examples of not doing the right thing.
A woman from my former parish claimed it was ‘murderous,’ keeping people away from church than the virus itself.
Hold. The fuck. Up.
Despite all the dispensations, despite the decrees from the Holy See, the place people tell me to align my consciousness with while Pope Benedict was in charge and mired in a sex scandal, these same people suddenly say ‘well, I don’t agree with this teaching about no masses during a Code Red in Manitoba.’ Now tell me, who’s the cafeteria catholic?
Let me pull out the public health order:
Despite subsection (1), religious leaders may conduct services at places of worship so that those services may be made available to the public over the Internet or through other remote means.
I think they mean Zoom, YouTube, a Pre-recorded service, or a television channel. Isn’t Pastor Fontaine, the CEO of The Miracle Channel? Can’t he cut Mr. Tissen’s church a deal on broadcast rights? I mean, this would be a boon for the channel. Why do a cheap, drive-by service rather than grow your television audience? Somewhere in the great beyond, the souls of those early Christians look upon us and say, “we had lions, and if they didn’t kill us, the germs we had back then would do it. I think you need to rethink how you view us.”
No, Mr. Tissen, this is not your father’s world, nor it’s mine. It’s ours, everyone’s world, for we are created in the image of God. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper when we wear a mask and stay home. We practice faith by kind words to grocery store clerks and delivery men. We pray for the scientists as they work towards a vaccine, a prayer said Sunday after Sunday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. We try to be slow to anger and rich in mercy, and if we fuck it up, we go forth and try not to fuck it up again next time. After dealing with the Coronavirus, we still have to deal with the smug virus spread by people with no love in their hearts.
