Another sad chapter in the enthronement of King Covid, as reported by Church Militant here. It would seem that Archbishop Etienne of Seattle is threatening to prohibit Masses at one of his parishes, unless every last worshipper dons a face mask during the Holy Sacrifice.

You know, health and human dignity and all that. The new gods.

“As Catholics, it is our responsibility to care for the common good and to protect the vulnerable among us. Doing our part to minimize the spread of the coronavirus by following safety protocols demonstrates our love for our neighbors and for Jesus Christ.” 

-Archbishop Etienne

It’s the newest beatitude, folks! “Blessed are the compliant, for they shall be safe.”

It’s a beatitude that neighboring Archbishop Sample had to learn the hard way recently, when Supreme Governess Kate Brown put the chokehold on Masses again. “Oh yes, yes, we believe that these restrictions are unreasonable and unjust” confesses His Excellency, “aaaand we will be complying.” The martyrs weep.

Several readers have intimated that one US bishop has gone so far as to tell Catholics in his diocese that they must comply with his sanitarian nightmare directives on pain of sin. On pain of sin.

Bishop says wear a muzzle at Mass, or you will offend God and court damnation.

People, this is spiritual abuse of the first order. “Do as I say, because God made me your pastor and disobedience is a sin.” Sound familiar? Do any names come to mind? Read any of the AG abuse reports from the last few years for a refresher.

If anyone has such an episcopal declamation in writing, submit it to us here and let’s see if public scrutiny can serve the sensus fidei and perhaps save some episcopally-consecrated souls. Something about millstones comes to mind.

And for the record, although we shouldn’t need reminding of the extent of episcopal authority, who has ever taught that bishops have authority to bind the faithful in matters of counsel on pain of sin? We’re far outside the bounds of “the Church’s received doctrine concerning faith and morals” here, folks.

Let’s try a demo: Diabetes kills way more people annually than the Covid 1984 Celebrity Calamity has. But if your bishop commands a diocesan sugar ban on pain of sin, will you cut the brownies or expatriate? Would you really be in sin to sample the cheesecake after lunch? Would you be spared eternal punishent if you hopped the diocesan boundary to grab a Twinkie, where the neighboring bishop has determined that it’s not sinful to partake in such shrink-wrapped saccharinity?

Maximum positivism. (But then, we’ve been trained for this.)

Try another demo: Everyone knows the Vatican machine will be rehashing “ecological commitments” in earnest before long. Will we all be living in sin if microwave ovens are declared “inadmissible” in a year or so? Maybe you’ll get a pass for a low-emissions model.

Dear Bishops: Encouragement, fine. Fervorinos even – just dandy. But you have no natural, divine, or ecclesiastical authority to withhold Mass and the Sacraments from the otherwise well-disposed on the basis of their cleanliness, which is what this in fact reduces to. No bishop has the power to render such “population health guidelines” binding on pain of sin.

All of this should be laughable in the extreme, but alas one can’t find any priests laughing. Or saying much else, sadly. Masks tend to have a muffling effect.

The Dead and the Maskless

In former times, Catholics were trained to detest and avoid sin at any earthly cost.

There were days when even young boys like Dominic Savio could be heard shouting: “Death before sin!” Days when mothers – even royals like Blanche of Castile – could be found warning their children: “Rather would I see you dead at my feet than stained with a mortal sin.”

With this patrimony in mind, let’s pretend that the abovementioned bishops were in fact working for the extension of the Kingdom of Christ in the earthly sphere. Let’s pretend that they mean what they say when they pray “Thy Kingdom come.” Then, let’s draw their Covid CancelChurch Commands to their uttermost conclusion:

If non-masking is a “sin,” and death is preferable to sin, then…

…Bishop would rather see you DEAD than at Mass without a muzzle.

This is not charity. This is not even sanity.

Our clergy must be seriously prayed for, directly summoned to right action, and actively resisted in every continued refusal to serve the divine rights of Christ and his Church.

It will have to be public. It will have to be painful. As always in history, the price will be paid first by the faithful – but pay it they must.

Come, Lord Jesus.

“The princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you.” (Mt 20:25-26)