The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Less Than Jake, "Spirit of '20" from the Lost at Home Sessions E.P. (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"They can put us all on lockdown,
Behind these walls confined,
But they will never break our spirit!
They can put us all on lockdown,
Behind these walls inside our minds,
But they will never break our spirit!…"

Operation AXIOM: The 3rd Anniversary of the Interdict against the Lay Faithful
Effective three years ago to the day, 18 March 2020, the lay faithful of the Diocese of Lansing were interdicted from active participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As I wrote two years ago, March 2021, a year after the interdict:

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 do not know if the Most Reverend Earl Boyea regrets the interdict, but a deacon friend of mine has told me the bishop is privately committed not to interdict his entire flock ever again. That's farcical, & frankly hurtful, because the bishop has made no such public proclamation. We continue to live under the sword of Damocles, all too aware of the hypocrisy of the bishop's & the diocesan chancery's pleas for the many, many faithful who have not returned to regularly participation in the Mass to do so, because at any moment we might all be indefinitely interdicted yet again.

Bishop Boyea's legacy will always be that when his people were afraid, when it seemed as if the whole world was falling apart, the Church was not there for us—our shepherd deserted us, just as the apostles deserted Our Lord at Gethsemane. He has expressed no public contrition for his very public failings. He can say whatever he wants now, but his words are empty because when the decisive moment came, he wasn't there for us. That is the baleful legacy of every single bishop in these United States. The government did not close our Catholic parishes, our bishops did, & not one of them has expressed contrition for the spiritual damage their collective & individual failures wreaked.

The lay faithful of the Diocese of Lansing were interdicted from active participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, effective 18 March 2020, three years ago today.