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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Mar 22, 2021 8:29:56 GMT
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Post by hibernicus on Mar 22, 2021 23:04:00 GMT
The BBC reported that at a French acting awards ceremony recently one speaker complained: "The cinemas and theatres have been shut down so that the old people can go to Mass - and we're supposed to be a secular republic". At least people can't make that complaint here!
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Post by Askel McThurkill on Mar 23, 2021 8:59:35 GMT
I'm sure a case could be made for social distancing in the theatres and cinemas; the problem is it wouldn't be commercial (though I've found attendance at cinemas relatively similar to that of churches, so maybe it is possible). Now it may be that the churches don't bring in money to the state - but cinema and theatre are both heavily subsidised, in nearly every western state, so I can imagine what would be going through the relevant minister's head at a quote like that. Yes, they can't complain here.
I recall the one time director of the Gate Theatre, one of the few Irish targets of "Me Too", Michael Colgan, calling the Dean of Christ Church a begrudger because he made the point his congregation couldn't get to service when St Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday because of the route and timing of the St Patrick's Day parade. Colgan was director of the St Patrick's Day festival (why, I don't know) and his response was totally unsympathetic.
I recall Diarmuid Martin's recollection of an ad limina visit to Benedict XVI. The Pope stumped by asking how many Catholic writers and artists were active in Ireland.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Mar 29, 2021 8:16:33 GMT
Well, we have it now in black and white. Offering public Mass is a crime.
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Post by hibernicus on Mar 31, 2021 1:47:01 GMT
What is even more interesting is that the government specifically denied this was the case when the relevant legislation was going through the Dail. (Whatever you think of Michael McNamara TD, he has highlighted the issue.) Apparently the Gardai actually set up road blocks around Fr Horan's church last Sunday to stop people from attending. This may suggest certain parallels concerning certain people. I couldn't possibly comment: www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4rQDyRCZtg
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 9, 2021 21:55:03 GMT
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 9, 2021 22:06:46 GMT
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Post by assisi on Apr 12, 2021 18:37:56 GMT
Mass is back on again up here in the North. One thing I have noticed, and it has always been a problem even before Covid, is that the majority of early birds sit at the very extremes of the pews, often leaving a large empty space in the middle of the pew which could easily accommodate another few people at a safe distance, particularly in long pews. Most people arriving later are unwilling to ask the person on the edge of the pew if they can get past them as they fear a reaction or a refusal. I saw one unfortunate man walk the length of the Church looking for an empty pew but not finding any and eventually being gestured to sit down in the middle of a more open pew by an accommodating member of the congregation.
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 15, 2021 21:07:32 GMT
Agreed - I've noticed the same problem myself.
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 30, 2021 17:34:08 GMT
A commenter on Fr Zuhlsdorf's blog entry concerning the recent Garda interruption of Mass at the SSPX chapel in Athlone claims that some individuals whom he does not name are actively trying to persuade priests to defy the law and get themselves arrested. Has anone heard anything about this? wdtprs.com/2021/04/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-super-catholic-land-called-quebec/EXTRACT Public Savant says: 28 April 2021 at 1:29 AM Regarding the raid on the church in Athlone. I used to go to Mass there when I lived near there so I know it well. I also know the regulars there and the priest. Now anyone who knows anything about the history of Ireland knows that for centuries we were plagued by what we call “the informer” (also the title of a 1935 film by John Ford). The “raid” on the church in Athlone was in response to a complaint made by a member of the public. The Gardai (the national police force) station, is only a few hundred feet from the church, and they went to investigate as they’re obliged to do when anyone reports any violation of the law. They entered before Mass and saw people not socially distanced and not wearing masks. Now, I’m not going to argue the rightness or wrongness of outlawing Mass, insisting on social distancing or wearing asks but I will say that every adult in full possession of their faculties knew that they were breaking the (unjust) law. The person you hear shouting is not a regular member of the faithful and the regulars did not recognize him. The regular faithful complied with requests to leave, they also cooperated with the Gardai afterwards. No fines were issued even though it would have been lawful to do so. Also a certain rabble rouser was present on the day. A person who has approached several traditionally minded priests in the past year urging them to offer a public Mass in defiance of the law, actually trying to persuade them how it would be a publicity coup for the police to stop the Mass and drag the priest away. There are faithful who love Christ, His Church, the priesthood and know they need the sacraments and there’s political operators who would use all the above for their own reasons. Then there’s some who can’t tell the difference. END OF EXTRACT
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Post by hibernicus on May 5, 2021 0:03:12 GMT
I must say I am very irritated by the way LifeSite has been covering the vaccine issue. (Full disclosure - I have received a jab - fortunately one of the less objectionable vaccines, which is not to say it's perfect - and I made a point of expressing my concern to the administering doctor. I don't know if that will do any good, but at least it's something, and it's what the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said to do.) My problems with Life Site are these: (1) They lump all the vaccines together as "abortion-tainted vaccines" as if there was no distinction between them at all and this was so obvious that it doesn't need to be argued. (2) The concept of more/less proximate co-operation with evil is treated as a fraud whereas it's a well-established principle. (For example, there are certain gynaecological surgical techniques which save thousands of women every year in the Third World, which were developed by a C19 American surgeon carrying out grossly unethical experiments on slave women. The logic of LifeSite's statements about the stem cell lines used for the vaccines derived from abortions would be to say that any surgeon who uses these techniques or any woman who benefits from them is as guilty as if they had carried out the experiments themselves.) (3) Similarly, they hype every hint that the vaccines don't work/kill people (There is of course some risk). The way this is done seems to me to come close to manipulating people by scaring them. Conversely, "alternative" cures are presented as wonder treatments being suppressed by conspirators. (4) I am sorry to say this, but their talk of a need for a new pro-life movement to oppose the vaccine - which seems to me to imply that anyone who accepts the vaccine is not entitled to call themselves a pro-lifer - and their insistence that all their views are self-evidently true and there's no room for discussion, reminds me unpleasantly of a cult mentality. I don't like writing this because LifeSite does have some good coverage and I respect some people who write for them - but this has to be said.
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Post by hibernicus on May 6, 2021 20:49:30 GMT
Let me clarify a bit my suggestion of manipulation. When I say that many of the "opposed to vaccines under all circumstances" commentators come across as manipulative, I don't mean that they don't believe what they are saying is true. The problem is just the opposite - they start from the assumption that their view is self-evidently true, and that it is impossible that it could ever be licit to accept the vaccines. This means that they treat disagreement as being either foolish or dishonest, and refuse to engage with the arguments made against them (to explain their position further; they behave as I would behave if I met a person who stated that black people are genetically programmed to be mindlessly violent and have more in common with chimpanzees than with white people. Anyone who reads the comment boxes of certain US discussion sites comes across such people from time to time, and the only appropriate responses are to challenge them, to ignore them, or to study them in the hope of better understanding the evil history of anti-black racism.) The person whom they are debating, if that person has engaged in serious moral reflection and consulted legitimate authorities, will naturally take such refusal to engage with them as an insult or as Pharisaism (making people bear unnecessary burdens) even if the rigorists are acting in good faith. I hope this makes things clearer.
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