From the Chapel — May 16: Be not afraid

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Our Sunday Visitor chapel. Scott Richert photo

Scott Richert“From the Chapel” is a series of short, daily reflections on life and faith in a time of uncertainty. As people across the world cope with the effects of the coronavirus — including the social isolation necessary to combat its spread — these reflections remind us of the hope that lies at the heart of the Gospel.

One of the most common claims by those who want to return to normalcy because “we can’t go on like this” is that those taking a more cautious approach are “living in fear.” It doesn’t seem to matter whether the cautious person is a governor who is doubling down on restrictions even as the rest of the country has begun easing them, or just an everyday Joe or Jill who’s happy to be going back to work and to be able to get his or her hair cut, but has expressed in public a hope that we’ll all continue to practice social distancing and, to protect others from our own possible asymptomatic infection, to wear a mask.

From fairly early on, that accusation has also been flung at Catholics who have supported the decisions of bishops to suspend public Masses by other Catholics, such as Rusty Reno, the editor of First Things, and those who drafted and signed the declaration “We Are an Easter People.” Now, as dioceses across the country are resuming or preparing to resume public Masses, such acrimony, unfortunately, is likely to breach the walls of many parishes.

Are some Catholics afraid as they consider returning to their parishes? Undoubtedly. The Church in the United States is an aging church, and this virus has disproportionately claimed victims among the elderly. Adult Americans as a whole are an unhealthy lot, with 70 percent or more suffering from one or more of the underlying conditions associated with increased mortality rates from COVID-19. Hypertension alone, which has emerged as the most common comorbidity in the United States, affects 108 million American adults — 45 percent of the adult population — according to the CDC. And contrary to the incorrect beliefs of some of those most quick to fling the charge of “living in fear,” there is no warrant in Catholic theology for believing that God grants the faithful immunity from contracting disease while they worship him or receive the body and blood of his Son in holy Communion.

But fear isn’t confined to those who are more cautious. Many of the loudest voices in favor of easing restrictions have argued that more people will die from the economic mess our response to this virus has created than will die from the virus itself. That’s fear, too. Among Catholics specifically, some of those who have accused the bishops of cowardice for suspending public Masses have made the argument that taking guidance from public authorities puts religious freedom at risk. Even though I believe that the argument falls apart because the bishops have not been compelled to act by public authorities, I recognize that at the heart of this argument lies a reasonable concern over the increasing restrictions on religious freedom in recent years across the United States — restrictions that had nothing to do with public health and everything to do with political ideology. That’s fear, too — and just like the life-and-death concerns over the effects of COVID-19, we have to acknowledge it and address it, not pretend that it doesn’t exist.

What we cannot do, however, is be afraid of one another. One of the ways in which COVID-19 infections turn deadly is when the body’s immune response overreacts and does the virus’s work for it. The cure that nature provides literally becomes worse than the disease.

As we, the members of the Church, the Body of Christ, come back together, we can learn a lesson from what we know about this virus. If we attack one another — if we refuse to acknowledge the reasonable fears of all the members of our parish families — we risk something even greater than physical death. We risk destroying the unity that binds us together and shows the world that the Good News of Christ is true.

Scott P. Richert is publisher for OSV.

Scott P. Richert

Scott P. Richert is publisher for OSV.