By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, April, 19, 2021
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
“Baptisms should be discouraged…” says Bishop Ronald Fabro of London, Ontario. He’s responding to the latest draconian lockdown orders, of course; he doesn’t intend that baptisms should be permanently discouraged.
At least I don’t think he intends to discourage baptisms for any considerable length of time. But tell me: What other result could this order possibly produce? If you think that it’s acceptable to discourage baptisms for now, how can you expect a sense of urgency when, eventually, politicians give the all-clear signal, and you decide to encourage baptisms again? …