O'Commentary: Saint Patrick's Day took on a new meaning last year. Amid the gathering panic & gloom of the plague, the annual Saint Patrick's Day Mass hosted by the Ancient Order of Hibernians had already been cancelled, but on 17 March word reached the faithful of the Diocese of Lansing that effective the next day, 18 March 2020, an interdict has been imposed against all the lay faithful, banning them from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This was phrased as "suspension of public Mass," but in the law of the Church such a phrase has no meaning; this was an interdict. An interdict is supposed to be a remedial measure, meant to bring sinner to repentance, but this interdict was leveled against all the lay faithful without any remedial conditions; there was no penance we could do that would allow us to return to the Lamb's Supper. Even if the suspension of public Mass was wise, & I will cross swords with anyone about that spurious claim, this interdict was by its very nature unjust.
The two months of the interdict were spiritually devastating. Ten months later, I am only now beginning to recover from the desolation, from the betrayal & abandonment trauma.
I have yet to bring myself to forgive my bishop, the Most Reverend Earl Boyea, but I am striving to do so. At the moment when we most needed the Church, when fear stalked the land & every human institution had failed us, the Church—an institution both human & divine—failed us, too. The Church told us it was every man for himself, that our priests & bishops could not & would not do anything for us. The Church told us that we would have to save ourselves, that when we were most afraid, we didn't need Jesus in our lives. I hope sincerely to forgive Bishop Boyea, & I know I will sooner or later, but I also know in my heart that no matter what happens I will never, ever trust him again. Fool me once, shame on thee; fool me twice, shame on me.
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