What it felt like to have Mass again: A priest's perspective

Being a priest, I have been blessed to be able to celebrate Mass and receive Holy Communion each day and so I am guessing that my experience of the government shutdown of our churches is different than the experience of those who had no access to the Sacraments the last few months. The Eucharist is one of the most important things in my life and I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to receive it each day.

And yet, that is exactly what so many people experienced these past weeks. Some, myself included, never thought we would see a day, at least not in this country, when the government would prevent people from going to Church and (most) bishops remaining silent as their people were spiritually starving, not fighting for the church to be considered "essential." This all still seems so unbelievable.

But this past weekend here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we were once again able to open our Church doors and celebrate Holy Mass with our parishioners. And I couldn't think of a more appropriate, fitting and symbolic day than Pentecost Sunday to reopen. Pentecost is that day in which the Holy Spirit came down upon our Blessed Mother and the Apostles and gave them the courage, strength and grace to go out into the world and be witnesses of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. Pentecost was a day of great joy for the Church as it was for us to be able to experience a sort of "New Pentecost" and encounter the Holy Spirit in a profound way.

Many people shared with me their feelings about being in the Church again and being able to receive Holy Communion. It might seem a bit extreme, but I must say, it was one of the happiest days of my priesthood to see people so filled with joy and hope and peace. On the final weekend in which we were able to have public Mass, I told the people of the pious expression that priests are often reminded of, "To celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass and your only Mass!" I was trying to convey to my parishioners that we should never take the Mass and the Sacraments for granted, because one day, we might not be able to have access to them.

I will say, that in addition to having public Masses again, what made this weekend so beautiful is that I realized that I had been taking something for granted, and that is the great privilege of being able to give people Jesus when I distribute Holy Communion. Normally I would give Communion to hundreds of people each weekend and sometimes it is easy to forget exactly what it is that I am doing at that part of the Mass; we actually give people Jesus!

Watching the majority of parishioners receive with profound devotion, piety and emotion was such a blessed experience for me as a priest. Seeing how much my parishioners love Jesus in the Eucharist gives me great hope. Yes, our crowds were smaller than usual as many are still filled with some apprehension about being in large crowds, but what was clear to me was the deep hunger that people had for the Blessed Sacrament.

I know it wasn't easy to put all of the social distancing guidelines in place and logistically it was a challenge for many priests, but in my opinion, it was all worth it to see the joy on people's faces to receive Holy Communion.

The REAL conversation we should have about receiving Holy Communion

As the government begins to the lift the restrictions from the Covid-19 crisis, there are many discussions about what the "new normal" will look like. These conversations are impacting all areas of our lives, including our Sunday worship at Holy Mass for us Catholics. There are conversations about how many people can be allowed into the church buildings, about how we safely social distance ourselves and keep our churches clean.

There is another conversation about the manner in which people receive our Lord in Holy Communion. There are some who are coming up with all sorts of ideas on this topic, such as individually prepackaged hosts, using kitchen tongs or other devices to distribute so as to avoid coming into contact with someone, setting up plastic barriers such as they have in grocery stores, or even in some cases, eliminating Holy Communion all together.

Along the same lines, there is another debate where some want to prohibit people from receiving Communion on the tongue, as opposed to on the hand. Some bishops are evening trying to legislate this, going against the law of the church, (Redemptionis Sacramentum, 92 and GIRM 161 ) which says that someone ALWAYS has the right to receive on the tongue and can never be refused for receiving in this reverent, pious and traditional way. This is nothing new, this is an ongoing debate within the Church, a debate in which the Vatican has given clear directives on multiple occasions.

But this is not the conversation or debate that I think is most necessary right now as Churches begin to reopen. Don't get me wrong, we need to continue to uphold the law of the church and stand up against those pushing their progressive agendas. Clearly, I am a big proponent of people receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and I will just add one thought on this argument amidst the coronavirus crisis and that is that I can give Holy Communion on the tongue without touching someone's tongue (especially if they are kneeling, but I can NOT reverently give out Holy Communion without touching someone's hand - just a thought.

As people prepare to head back to Holy Mass, and many coming back with a tremendous desire and hunger to receive our Lord in the Eucharist, something which is truly beautiful, we should use this as an opportunity to remember that we should only receive Holy Communion if we are in a "State of Grace" meaning that we are not aware of any grave or mortal sins that we have not confessed. Holy Mass is not the only thing that people haven't had access to in these past two months, in many dioceses, people also haven't had the opportunity to "Go to Confession."

We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that “The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you"(John 6:53). To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself (1 Cor 11:27-29) Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion. (CCC 1384-5).

There is an important distinction to be made here, namely that we are all sinners and unworthy to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, but there is a difference between being a sinner who recognizes they have sinned and repents and seeks for forgiveness and those who remain in a state of sin. We can never receive our Lord in Holy Communion in a state of sin, we must go to confession first.

This is the real conversation that I think we should be having as a Church, not just as we reopen our churches, but continually: to our children preparing for their First Holy Communion and to our Confirmation students; preaching about it regularly and offering many opportunities for confession and continually reminding our people of what it means to receive our Lord worthily and to go to confession regularly, namely of what it means to be a practicing Catholic.

For many people, being stuck home these past weeks have given them a real opportunity to look at different areas of their lives and hopefully to make some resolutions and reprioritize their lives, and I pray that some may even make the decision to come back to Church. The Church is here to welcome them back with open arms! The Church is here to welcome back those who have been here all along until the government shut us down, those who have been gone for years for one reason or another, and everyone in between. But let's not forget, its not just coming back to Mass, its coming back to confession too.

What has the coronavirus shutdown taught us about choosing a school for our children?

What has the coronavirus shutdown taught us about choosing a school for our children?

As the product of a Catholic elementary school myself and now as the pastor of a parish school, I have always been a strong advocate for Catholic education. During the Coronavirus government shutdown, however, I am even more overwhelmingly convinced by the high stardards, the work ethic and the passion of Catholic Schools. I am deeply impressed by how my own parish school, St. Michael's School in Fall River and many other Catholic Schools responded to ensure that students never stopped learning throughout the crisis. From DAY ONE of the shutdown, our faculty and staff were providing quality education to our students and helping our families transition to online distance learning.

This is certainly not an attack on other schools, I am sure that many of them are doing their best to provide for their students with the resources available to them. However, I think it is worth noting that public schools, at least here in the state of Massachusetts, spend about on average about $16,000 per student, whereas my school here in Fall River, MA spends approximately $4,000 per student as we have no state funding. Catholic Schools are doing an amazing job with the resources available to them, could you imagine what they could do with 4 TIMES what they have now? Yet, even with this clear financial difference, I think our Catholic Schools are far surpassing what other schools have done in response to the government shutdown. I expect that won't go unnoticed when parents make the important decision for their child's education.

As I post on social media all that we have been doing here, I hear from many of my friends who have children in the public school system or in a charter school, that they have not had even close to what we have provided for our students. From day one, our faculty and staff had Google Classrooms set up, held Zoom class discussions, providing students exercise videos, opportunities to learn about their faith and provided parents all the resources they needed so that children did not lose a single day of learning. And why? What is the difference? It is certainly more than the money spent on each student or the resources available. I believe that it is because we are mission driven and believe that education is about more than just passing on information, but about forming the hearts and minds of the children entrusted to our care. It is because we are deeply rooted in our Catholic Faith, it is because we have been given a mandate by Jesus Christ and it is because we more than just a school, we are a family!

With that said, I need to express the highest praises to both our teachers and to our parents who have both stepped up during this crisis to go above and beyond for the children. Our teachers have excelled at learning to teaching online and keeping their students engaged and focused while our parents have been working from home while helping children with school work. What an amazing job both teachers and parents have done.

This crisis within our society has led many of us to rethink different aspects of our lives, especially our priorities and how we spend our time and our money. Time will tell if this has lasting effects on each of our lives and the decisions that we make, especially in regards to our children's education. Hopefully more families will realize the value of a Catholic Education for their child.