The Terrible State of the Catholic Church.

 Every time I attend Mass I join in a Sacrifice.   Christ through his representative the priest renews  in our day the Sacrifice He made on Calvary.   We then partake of the Sacrifice by eating His Body.   "Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you cannot have life in you"  John 16..  Some may say that is not what the Bible really means, but then they are relying on their own interpretation of the Bible, I go back to the Early Church and when I do I find the earliest Fathers such as Clement the third Pope and Ignatius of Antioch, both contemporaries of the Apostles, believed as the faithful in the Church believe today, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church of today teaches.

What a truly remarkable gift then Christ has given us.   His very Self, humble and loving, and full of mercy and compassion for us.   Should we not want to receive this gift daily, or even twice or three times a day.   How can we leave Church having received Him without being full of wonder and our own humility?   But then how can we deny fellow Catholics the right to attend Mass and receive the same joy?

Yet that is the position of the Catholic Church in England.   Despite the Government telling us that the Coronavirus is now under such control and there are very few deaths being reported because of the vaccinations, there are shepherds in the Church who have denied Catholics participation in the  Mass for over a year and a half.   And whereas society is now moving forward, these same shepherds have decided they will do nothing until Advent, nearly five months away.     So what do we find in Catholic parishes?

From what I have experienced in my own parish, things are not too good.    It is relatively small, and when the the outbreak began only about 60 people could attend each of the three Sunday Masses.  This meant that more than half of the parishioners could not attend though some would watch as one of the Masses was streamed.   Those who arrived late when the 60 seats were filled had to remain outside or go home.   What a way to treat Jesus!   OK they had to follow the state regulations, but these have been removed, distancing has been removed and we can now have a full Church.   So everyone can now come and receive the wonderful person of Jesus.   Well no, it seems we must keep the restrictions in place.   Now I  do not know what happened but a few weeks earlier a Committee Member stood up in Church to announce that there would be no removal of restrictions.    This surprised me since the last time the parish had voted anyone onto a committee was about 30 years ago.   But on reading Government guidelines earlier it did say that the decision for any Church was to be made by the Clergy or the PPC.

Now I do not know why committees are making decisions.   This is about the spiritual welfare of the people, certainly in the Catholic Church.   Other Churches I know are run by the congregations, and that is their  business, but questions affecting the care of souls are the responsibility of the clergy who are answerable to the bishop.   The fact that half the parish has not received Jesus is the number one question, next is the question of how we can survive as a parish under these regulations, and we certainly cannot, that is as a Catholic parish, survive a congregational dictatorship.    Now it may be that the PPC decides they have to restrict numbers to protect the old and vulnerable.    There are many ways ways to protect the old and vulnerable, but I am sure that the old and vulnerable would resent the idea that half the parish should be locked out so that they could be catered for.    The Government guidelines actually speaks about looking after 'the CLINICALLY vulnerable'

So why have I written this.    I believe that in a situation where the spiritually blind are leading the spiritually blind there should be a conversation.    It is not use shouting at me to 'shut up' for I do not care for such criticism and I never have.      

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