New York City, N.Y., Mar 12, 2020 / 11:55 am (CNA).- Places of worship in a New York City suburb are facing unprecedented measures to fend off the spread of coronavirus after the governor on Tuesday announced the creation of a 1-mile radius “containment zone” to limit the virus’ spread.
Under the rules of the containment zone in New Rochelle, which is fewer than 10 miles from the center of The Bronx, schools, houses of worship and large gathering places will be closed for two weeks beginning March 12. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said March 10 that the National Guard will be called in to help clean facilities and deliver food to people in need.
“The difficulty is the elderly [parishoners] aren’t all that computer savvy, so they’re very concerned, and we’re getting an awful lot of phone calls,” Monsignor Dennis Keane, pastor of Holy Family parish in New Rochelle, told CNA.
“I think safety is so important, especially when you’re dealing with elderly people,” he said.
Msgr. Keane said the parish’s regular scheduled Masses and Stations of the Cross will proceed as normal, but without a choir. The eldery or anyone concerned about getting sick ought to stay home, he said.
Holy Family is just outside the 1-mile containment area, but Msgr. Keane said the bulk of the parishioners live within the zone. The parish is already canceling numerous events, announcing on Facebook that all non-essential meetings, including religious education classes, have been canceled “until further notice.” As of March 13, the parish elementary school will be closed for the indefinite future.
A parish dinner dance scheduled for March 14 also has been canceled, and the parish last weekend emptied the holy water fonts and suspended the sign of peace during Mass. They also placed hand sanitizer at each entrance.
Msgr. Keane said he’s also had at least one bride call the parish office asking if her upcoming wedding can still take place at the church.
“I said, you know – we’re here, we’ll perform the wedding, it’s really your decision, as you get closer, to see how healthy it is to bring people together … things change very quickly in two weeks. But as far as the church is concerned, we’ll be open for the wedding, I’ll perform that wedding.”
He said one family, mostly of elderly members, this week decided not to have a funeral Mass at the church for a loved one who died, opting instead for a prayer service at the funeral home.
A local soup kitchen called HOPE Community Kitchen, also located outside the zone, benefits from food donations from the parish, Msgr. Keane said, and the parish will continue to cook food for the kitchen for now.
“What I’m concerned about is— parishes supply a lot of food to them. And if we have fewer people coming to church, we’ll be able to supply less food.”
HOPE Community Kitchen announced on its website that as a precautionary measure, its guests would receive take-out meals rather than gathering in its dining room until further notice.
Father Robert DeJulio, pastor of the city’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, told CNA that his parish church has also done away with the holy water and is encouraging people to receive Communion in the hand.
They are also canceling the upcoming parish mission and a parish dinner – anything having to do with food preparation, he said. Fr. DeJulio said he has been contacting parishioners by email to update them on the situation.
Since Our Lady of Perpetual Help is outside the strict containment zone, the parish is continuing to hold religious education classes, and the school is still open.
In contrast, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church lies just within the containment zone. Father Nicholas Anctil, the pastor, said the governor’s announcement came as a surprise, and that getting the word out to his parishioners was not the easiest of tasks.
Although he is able to contact parishioners via a “robocall,” he said he has to be sure that he records one in English and one in Greek, for his non-English speaking parishioners.
“A lot of them don’t speak English, believe it or not, still,” Fr. Nicholas said. “Or they don’t have internet.”
Holy Trinity runs a small nursery school, a Greek afternoon school, and a catechism school, and a gym that hosts various sports activities – all of which have been canceled.
The church also hosts education classes for retirees in conjunction with Iona College multiple times a week.
“They’re all senior citizens, and most of them live in the area,” Fr. Nicholas said.
“So we’ve had a lot of people in the building that actually live in the containment area as well.”
All liturgies at the parish have been canceled, said, including all the Sunday liturgies.
“Today I did my last liturgy here until March 25,” Fr. Nicholas said.
Anctil said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Greek Orthodox archdiocese, has asked the parishioners of Holy Trinity not to go to a different parish outside the containment zone for fear of further spreading the virus.
“I wanted to go to our sister church up the block – we have a sister church in Rye – and I am not supposed to, you know? Because we don’t know what our symptoms are going to be and we don’t know what the incubation period is, really,” he said.
Fr. Nicholas said the containment causes a lot of hardship for his parish, especially in the middle of Lent, not to be able to hold services.
In addition, the church often provides food for a local homeless shelter, and since their kitchen is locked down, they will be unable to provide those meals.
“It chokes a lot of the parish life,” he said.
The Greek Orthodox church in Rye provides a livestream of Divine Liturgy, he said, and he hopes his parishioners will take advantage of that.
Despite other congregations canceling their services – the local Lutheran church has also canceled services until March 25 – Fr. DeJulio is confident that Mass will continue in the area. He said he has not received any orders from the Archdiocese of New York to cancel Mass.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to cancel Mass,” Fr. DeJulio said.
“I don’t think we do that. I think we have Mass and tell people to talk precautions, and if they feel uncomfortable, not to come. People have to take responsibility – they’re adults. This idea that Father has to tell me not to come to church is archaic.”
He did say parishioners over 60, in particular, should consider staying home.
“That doesn’t mean I have to cancel to make that happen,” he said.
CNA contacted the Archdiocese of New York to ask whether Mass cancelations were being considered as an option to limit the spread of the virus in the area around the containment zone, and did not receive an answer by press time.
The zone centers around the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, believed to be the epicenter of the outbreak near New York City.
A 50-year-old member of the synagogue last week was the second person in the state diagnosed with the disease, but is believed to have spread the virus to the synagogue community. Around 1,000 members of the synagogue community are under self-imposed quarantine.
The synagoge announced in its March 6-7 bulletin that the rabbi’s wife tested positive for the virus.
A call to the synagogue March 11 went unanswered.
A pro-life pregnancy center, The Elinor Martin Residence for Mother & Child, is located within the zone. The center is listed as an agency of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, though a CCNY spokesperson told CNA that the center is not owned by the archdiocese.
The Elinor Martin Residence did not respond by press time to CNA’s inquiry as to whether the center was still operating during the containment period.
Though grocery stores and other businesses are allowed to remain open within the zone, CNN reported Wednesday that many small businesses in New Rochelle are planning to shut their doors for two weeks in an attempt to mitigate financial losses.
The governor confirmed 20 additional cases March 11, most emerging in New Rochelle, bringing the state total to nearly 200.
In addition, nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the area will not be permitted to accept visitors until further notice. St. Joseph’s, a nursing home in New Rochelle run by the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, confirmed to CNA that they were not currently taking visitors.
As of yet there are no travel restrictions for residents of the area and no one is mandated to self-quarantine.
Though New York has not had any deaths from coronavirus, nearby New Jersey announced a 69-year-old man with underlying health problems died of the virus March 11.
Around the world, Catholic dioceses have responded differently to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Archdiocese of Seattle, centered around the first and largest outbreak in the United States, announced March 11 that it will indefinitely suspend public Masses.
Masses across Italy are cancelled and churches are closed, in compliance with a mandate of the Italian government. Most dioceses in Japan have canceled Masses. The president of Polish Bishops’ conference has encouraged more Masses in his country. Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań said there should be more Sunday Masses so that services will be less crowded and parishioners will be able sit farther apart from one another.
Kentucky’s Governor Andy Beshear on Wednesday encouraged churches to cancel their services in fear of the spreading coronavirus. The archdiocese in the state does not plan to cancel Masses this Sunday.
[…]
Sure. It’s all about acceptance, compassion, inclusion and freedom from bullying. Give me a break.
Except when the “acceptance” and “inclusion” would include Catholics who want to actually be Catholic.
Mitre Dame celebrating Pride month is disgusting. They no longer a Catholic Institution.
NOTRE DAMN UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS admonish critics to consult the bible regarding homosexual activity. How about this:
Noah and Ham (Genesis 9:20–27), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11), Levitical laws condemning same-sex relationships (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), two words in two Second Testament vice lists (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10), and Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 1:26–27).
As for research findings, apparently not mentioned in the Notre Damn website puff piece, how about this “trinity” of findings:
FIRST, one recent study in the mix is a review of two hundred peer-reviewed studies on sexual orientation and gender identity. The conclusion: scientific evidence does NOT support the popular notion that “gender identity is an innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex” (Mayer/McHugh, The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society, Ethics and Public Policy Center, No. 50, Fall 2016).
SECOND, more recent research into the genome itself points to some genetic markers—it does NOT find a gay gene—AND concludes that these markers do NOT account for same-sex behavior. https://news.yahoo.com/no-gay-gene-study-finds-180220669.html
From the news release:
Five of the genetic markers were “significantly” associated with same-sex behavior, the researchers said, but even these are FAR FROM being predictive of a person’s sexual preferences. “We scanned the entire human genome and found a handful – five to be precise – of locations that are clearly associated with whether a person reports in engaging in same-sex sexual behavior,” said Andrea Ganna, a biologist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland who co-led the research. He said these have “a very small effect” and, combined, explain “considerably LESS THAN 1% of the variance in the self-reported same-sex sexual behavior.”
This means that non-genetic factors – such as environment, upbringing, personality, nurture – are far more significant in influencing a person’s choice [!] of sexual partner, just as with most other personality, behavioral and physical human traits, the researchers said.
THIRD, even a relatively innocuous modern addiction—overindulgence in digital and virtual reality games—is found to produce corresponding neuro-chemical and possibly cellular changes in the brain itself, e.g., dopamine which is responsible for reward-driven behavior. A recent study completed at University College London (using MRI technology) strongly implies that a habit of lying [e.g., university website puff pieces?] tends to suppress the part of the brain (the amygdala) that responds emotionally to a “slippery slope” pattern of small and then larger lies (Garrett/Ariely/ Laxxaro, Nature Neuroscience Journal, October 24, 2016; reported by Erica Goode, New York Times, October 25, 2016).
Good observations, and if they were honest and open minded about considering how ideology reinforces habituated behavior, they would consider the significance of the fact that 98 percent of homosexuals are pro-abortion. And if they do not, they would do some soul-searching as to the ideological make-up of their beliefs that coaused them to not consider the meaning of this fact.
And one more comment about genetics. The self-evident fact that homsexuals have fewer children than non-homosexuals would provide evidence that genetic factors, if they ever existed, would diminish over time form the gene pool, not increase.
Edward, and yet this hasn’t happened. The mystery of sexual orientation continues. It must be more complex than we think.
Excellent, thorough response
“…God only created this binary.”
Desperation time in trying to find Bibical support for mental illness and lifeless sodomy.
The Holy Spirit has warned us about those who “tamper with God’s word” (2 Cor 4,2) or do “abide in the teaching of Christ” (2 John 9).
Question for Notre Dame and their alumni: What is more important, fidelity to the faith or the football team?
I am sickened and saddened to see the continual moral and theological decline of Catholic institutions, including the Church and its leadership. Wolves have entered into the sheepfold and are devouring the flock. Where are the shepherds of Christ who will defend and care for the flock? False shepherds have infiltrated the Church, leading the flock astray, abusing the flock, stealing from the flock. Demons appearing as angels of light have seduced the minds of shepherds and sheep, leading them away from the Truth that sets men free, the Truth that is the only way to the Father. They twist God’s Word to conform to the passions of the flesh and the god of this age, instead of choosing to be transformed by the pure Word of God into the image and likeness of God. With words and teaching disguised as Truth, they slowly poison the hearts and minds of the flock. Those who are poisoned remain within the flock, even leading it, destroying the Church from within, for a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:18-32)
“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who case divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” (Jude 17-18)
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.'” (Jesus Christ to the Church in Sardis, Revelation 3:1-6).
“Where are the shepherds of Christ who will defend and care for the flock?” We have one here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
Equality for the LGBTQ group? Why doesn’t the LGBTQ group start with an in-depth study of those who are like themselves? With such tendencies who feel trapped and don’t want that condition. And then those who love their situation which is condemned by the Creator. I remember a guy who I had often seen at Mass who committed suicide because he had these tendencies and didn’t want them. I know of a young boy at this time who has rejected God and says he plans to commit suicide because he doesn’t want to be gay. I know of two females who find themselves in this situation and have become totally reclusive being filled with anger and hate. I have heard horror stories of such people who think suicide is the only way out. With equality, the LGBTQ group should make a sturdy study on this and release it to the public, what do they have to fear, they claim it’s a great life. Maybe Notre Dame University can launch this study. The bottom line, when it comes to LGBTQ there are 2 types of people. Those who don’t want these attractions and feelings and then there are those who have them and in their vileness and wickedness are proud of it. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on these poor souls.
Andrew Angelo, you are right, and the suicide rate is much higher among these people. It must be incredibly disheartening and confusing to know inside that you are conflicted with an inner struggle, but then all around you in the world people are telling you it’s a choice, or that it’s okay, and there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s a mental illness, and until the medical field classifies it as such (like they used to), there will be more unresolved depression and suicides. These people aren’t getting the necessary tools and help to deal with their disorder. Imagine knowing you have a sore toothache, but your dentist keeps telling you it doesn’t hurt, or the hurt is good, and that you chose it! Talk about gaslighting…
Andrew, thanks for witnessing the struggle of gay Christians. You do so much for gay people by sharing your persinal experiences. I can say that I thought I was royally f*ucked when I found that I was gay. I thought my life was over.
Notre Dame denigrated itself the day they awarded an honorary degree to pro-abortion Barack Obama. They continue to denigrate themselves by admitting that the Bible in the Book of Genesis claims that “God began by creating human beings of male and female sex,” then adding that, “there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.” Wrong. The creation account declares binary (male and female) as the natural law without explaining it further, because natural law is what works. If Notre Dame desires to shame its name by advocating for the most deadly sin of Pride, they should include the explanation of Adam and Eve desiring to be God, which is the lack of humility in recognizing who they were made to be and wanting to be more. The alphabet people are imitating Adam and Eve in their desire to take God’s place by declaring His creation inadequate or incomplete. They attempt to make themselves above God by obliterating His natural law to “be fruitful and multiply.” That, people, defines binary.
To the point—and Notre Dame wears the crown of all the Catholic universities that
support and promote what is called “sexual reassignment” together with all the trimmings. Other institutions of higher learning(indoctrination) are more covert.
Great comment!
Why are Catholic parents still sending their kids here?
Sodom and Gomorrah Now. A take on Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Our once livable culture is becoming fast dangerous. Obscenity celebrated in virtually all commercials, social gatherings. Churchgoing reduced to live streaming. If at all. Once proudly Catholic, Notre Dame home of beloved convert Norwegian born Knute Rockne perhaps best football coach ever. Now a feminized charade of what once was. Transformation has been so rapid and plenary most seem dazed [those still with normal sensitivities] angry or join the self indulgent orgy many angry as well. Anger is commonplace a form of discontent with it all not finding Nirvana in cancel culture. In olden times back when prophets prophesied about God angels appeared here and there on our Earth. During Sodom and Gomorrah Now, an alert must be given. Angels enter at your own risk.
Absolutely sickening to see the way ND has capitulated to the zeitgeist and abdicated its role as America’s foremost Catholic university (though the problem goes back even further to the Land O’ Lakes Statement) in the last 20 years.
When I was a student in the mid ’90s, ND refused to grant the “Gays and Lesbians of ND/SMC” group (The T and Q and + blah blah, hadn’t been added yet!) any official status (which would have allowed them to receive extracurricular activity funds, usage of certain buildings, etc.) Now the University itself openly celebrates homosexuality and “trans,” and endorses renaming a month after one of the 7 deadly sins.
Will never give another dime to ND.
P.S. Will people please stop saying “Notre Dame University”? It’s University of Notre Dame. Thanks.
Oh people. Fr. Jenkins didn’t write the article a marketing director named Cidni Sanders wrote the story. She is neither a theologian, professor, nor adminstrator, I don’t think she is even Catholic. But she is the nicest person ever and she has a job to do and it is to write about diversity and inclusivity. This year she also authored articles about North Korean immigrants, refugees from Africa…and God Forbid…Muslims at UND. If you are really concerned go and visit and talk to one of the many Holy Cross priests on the University of Notre Dame campus or do like Raymond Arroyo and I did and send your kid there. My son was the only one of his High School classmates with a big smile on his face at the end of his academic year because they were they only university to trust in God and open up, (Even though my wife and I were very concerned to hear he charged the field after the Clemson game). I don’t like it either but a top notch university should be about dialogue and dialectic about everything in the seen and unseen world.
Franciscan University opened up fully last fall. And no vaccinations required. ND disclaims liability for its decision because the student can choose to reject vaccination and go somewhere else (and give up their coveted spot at ND)
My son got a full scholarship to UND. We as a family are struggling to make ends meet in order to send our 2 other sons to Catholic High School, if the Lord has blessed us with not having to pay for a college education for my oldest son I think that is a good thing – even if it has its problems.
Oh, it was written by some non-Catholic PR flack – well, that’s ok then! Sorry, the University is responsible for what it’s PR people write in its name.
And the only outrage you can muster about anything is the idea that your son may have gone onto the field during the Clemson game!? Oh my God, what a crime! Hope you never saw the 1993 FSU game! We’d have given you a heart attack – even tore down the goalposts!
Cidni Sanders…”the nicest person ever.” But, it all happens on Jenkins’ watch.
The name of the game is stealth and compartmentalization. In the Navy the slogan is that “you can delegate responsibility, but you can’t delegate accountability.” The Administration has failed, and is accountable.
There are many of us whose children are attending UND who are praying a new dawn for UND with the resignation of VP of Student Affairs Ms. Harding and installation of Fr. Gerard Olinger. I trust in the Holy Spirit.
Notre Dame is apostate, and serves as the collegial flagship of the 50-year-long project that is the now the “McCarrick Establishment.”
Notre Dame owes its status as “apostate-power-house” to its progenitor frauds McCarrick and Hesburg, co-creators and co-signers of the 1967 “Land-of-Lakes Statement,” by which the co-signing apostates and apostate-sex-abusers, including McCarrck and Hesburg, declared their universities’ “freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind….”
Read it here:
http://sycamoretrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Land-OLakes-Statement.pdf
And notice on the last 2 pages the signatory apostate frauds, including the “Right Rev. Theodore E. McCarrick, President, Catholic University of Puerto Rico.”
So there you have it, the entire superstructure of the contemporay US Church establishment is founded by the sociopath sex abusing fraud McCarrick, and his fellow fruad apostates.
The Good Shepherd made this declaration: “I spew them out of my mouth.”
True that, Chris!
It is an error to cite the Bible. The opposition does not accept it as a viable source, indeed homosexual activists want to declare it hate literature. The argument must be based on nature where the primary law is perpetuation of the species. Homosexuality does not fit into nature’s plan, and must be regarded as an aberration. This separates the person from the act — a process disapproved by the activists.
So when are devout Catholic families going to stop fawning over the school? The appeal of reputation, beautiful campus, high competitiveness, and football is too great. Raymond Arroyo sent his child(ren) there. My own youngest daughter thinks it’s THE school to attend.
Franciscan University, as well as others, needs the support of Catholic families. My oldest son attends Franciscan and said in his freshman year, “everyone should come here.”