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Photo credit: Archdiocese of St. Louis

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine, May 22, 2020

Joseph Pearce a senior contributor to Crisis. He is director of book publishing at the Augustine Institute, editor of the St. Austin Review, and series editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions. An acclaimed biographer and literary scholar, his latest book is Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know (Augustine Institute, 2019).

It’s beginning to look as though the pandemic that has hit the world like a global tsunami might be finally waning. In its wake, we find ourselves picking up the pieces of broken religious practices following an unprecedented time in history in which the faithful were deprived of the sacraments through the orders of their bishops, as distinct from the orders of Caesar in his various historical guises. This was a strange scenario, to say the least, and one which many have found extremely unsettling.

Can we really accept that the gift of sacramental grace is not “essential,” and apparently not as “essential” as liquor stores?

At this point, and regardless of where we stand on the lockdown or reopen spectrum of opinion, we should be thinking about what’s going to happen with the practice of the Faith the next time something similar happens. And let’s make no mistake about it, there will be a next time. …

Read more here: crisismagazine.com/2020/next-time-there-will-be-no-excuses