Actions And Words: On Post-Couf Mass Attendance.

Western catholic bishop, 2020.

Catholics are not coming back to church after the “pandemic”, at least in the USA.

Somehow, I struggle to be surprised.

All over the West, Catholic bishops were at the very forefront of the movement to restrict the religious liberty of their own faithful.

As so often in these disgraceful times, they sent to their sheep an extremely powerful message: worldly cares always come before Christ.

Of course, this was not said that way. When you think that Christ needs to sit at the back of the bus, you always need to look good to those you allow to sit at the front. But seriously, no one bought the “care for the elderly” stunt.

If the Bishops had thought that Christ comes first, they would have told so, first to their sheep, and then to their political class. They would have threatened to raise hell if the elementary religious freedom of being able to attend Mass had been curtailed. They would have excommunicated Catholic politicians imposing such a tyranny, and they would not have cared for what Francis says, because…. Christ comes first.

All this has not happened. The people in the pews, already confused by utter lack of proper instruction, have – confusedly, but clearly – received the message: if Mass attendance was unimportant then, why would it be important now?

Nor do the parishioners really think that, by stopping mass attendance, they are risking hell. They were never told that when they were attending. Instead, they heard all that drivel about the “joy of Christ”, making Mass look like a happy-clappy celebration of the oh so holy, and oh so nice, communiteeeeee in attendance.

Guess what? These people are now reflecting that, as they are so holy and nice, they don’t need to do something which, in fact, not even their priests and bishops consider so important.

Excuses will never be in short supply. The one will say that he prefers to sing his praise to the Lord whilst hiking over beautiful hills. The other will say that he can spend the time he was wasting in traffic talking to his son about the joooooy of Jeeeeeesus. A third will simply reflect that, if Mass attendance had been so important, the bishop would never have been so fast in telling everybody to stay home.

From the perspective of these poorly instructed people, they are not reasoning badly. They are merely building on the half lies and unspoken truths they have been exposed to for many years, and to the attitude of their pastors when they were tested.

Actions speak louder than words.

One would think a bishop knows that.