New York Times – In a Pandemic, Religion can be a Balm and a Risk
/0 Commenti/in Documents, North America/da diresomRNS – Catholic Cardinal Burke says faithful should attend Mass despite coronavirus
/0 Commenti/in Catholic Church, Documents, North America/da diresomCard. Burke “Message on the Combat against the Coronavirus, COVID-19” HERE: https://www.cardinalburke.com/presentations/combat-against-coronavirus
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In an online statement, conservative Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke said that access to Mass and the sacraments must not be denied even as the world faces the coronavirus pandemic.
“In considering what is needed to live, we must not forget that our first consideration is our relationship with God,” Burke wrote in a letter published on his website Saturday (March 21).
“That is why it is essential for us, at all times and above all in times of crisis, to have access to our churches and chapels, to the Sacraments, and to public devotions and prayers.”
The U.S. cardinal has been a staunch critic of Pope Francis’ pontificate and was among the four cardinals who authored the “Dubia,” a document challenging the Holy Father about his cautious opening to allowing Communion for divorced and remarried couples in the 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia.”
Burke resides in Italy, which has experienced the deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus, surpassing China. Almost 5,000 people have died in Italy and over 50,000 have been infected. On Saturday, 793 people died as a result of the virus, a trend that shows no signs of slowing, especially in the northern part of the country that was struck the hardest.
The Italian bishops conference initially banned all Masses and religious gatherings throughout the country in order to adhere to the safety measures enacted by the government.
The vicar of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, later allowed priests and pastors to act according to conscience while maintaining the 3 to 6 feet of distancing.
Burke noted that just as people are able to continue going to pharmacies and supermarkets, the faithful “must be able to pray in our churches and chapels, receive the Sacraments, and engage in acts of public prayer and devotion, so that we know God’s closeness to us and remain close to Him, fittingly calling upon His help.”
Many priests throughout the country have looked for alternative ways to practice the Catholic faith and maintain a community with their flock, especially through the use of social media and livestreaming. Others have instead put themselves on the front lines by administering the sacraments to the sick and dying or attending to the needs of their local hospitals.
“There is no question that great evils like pestilence are an effect of original sin and of our actual sins. God, in His justice, must repair the disorder which sin introduces into our lives and into our world,” Burke wrote.
The cardinal criticized pop culture for being distant from God, offering examples such as abortion, euthanasia and “the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality.”
“With ever greater concern, we witness the devastating effect on individuals and families of the so-called ‘gender theory,’” he wrote.
Burke called priests to continue celebrating Mass, keeping the necessary distance between the faithful. He explained that the confessional and the church itself could, in his opinion, easily be sanitized by clergy or willing members of the Catholic community.
“We cannot simply accept the determinations of secular governments, which would treat the worship of God in the same manner as going to a restaurant or to an athletic contest,” he wrote.
“We bishops and priests need to explain publicly the necessity of Catholics to pray and worship in their churches and chapels, and to go in procession through the streets and ways, asking God’s blessing upon His people who suffer so intensely.”
Life Tabernacle Church: Pastor Tony Spell on why he won’t close his church over the coronavirus
/0 Commenti/in Documents, North America/da diresom1985March 20, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. GMT+1
JACOB KORNBLUH
The Washington Post
To the police officers who came to the porch of his Baton Rouge church to order it closed, to the White House liaison who called him, to people
slamming him across social media, Baton Rouge Pastor Tony Spell has a response: What about Planned Parenthood? What about Target?
“We feel we are being persecuted for the faith by being told to close our doors,” said Spell, who told The Washington Post Thursday that his Life
Tabernacle Church was visited by officers from the local Central Police Department Tuesday night, when more than 300 people were worshiping.
The officers said the National Guard would be coming to their next service, this Sunday, if the church did not comply with the governor’s ban on
gatherings of more than 50 people, Spell said he was told.
“There is a real virus, but we’re not closing Planned Parenthood, where babies are being murdered,” he said. “If they close those doors today,
we’d save more lives than will be taken by the coronavirus.”
Spell said he received a call Wednesday from Tony Perkins, head of the conservative Christian advocacy group Family Research Council, who
Perkins said was representing the White House. “He said, ‘We’re not asking you to close, we don’t want you to close, but how can we help you?’”
Perkins and Spell talked about options including having people stand six feet apart, or meeting outside, the pastor said. “I said: ‘I’m going to
meet. We’re going to have church.’ He said: ‘Okay.’ ”
It was not immediately possible to talk to Perkins. The Central Police did not immediately comment, but their Facebook page cited the ban and
said “We will respond to gatherings larger than 50 people.”
Spell quoted scripture that calls for gathering — Hebrews 10:25, Matthew 18:20.
“We’re a Pentecostal denomination, and when we gather and pray the Holy Ghost comes in the midst. There are healings, signs, wonders, some
things done together in the church that can’t be done in a live stream,” he said.
Even as most places of American worship begrudgingly have been shutting down over the past week, there are the last holdouts. The places
where clergy and believers insist their communal task is too indispensable to be halted, or too protected by God to produce suffering. Or where
they wonder if maybe the virus is being overstated. Or if, in 2020 America, people have lost respect for religion. Or perhaps they simply cannot
fathom their days without coming together to pray.
Even if every other business was shut down, said Nicole Bryant, 33, a home-schooling mother of five who was at Spell’s church Tuesday night
when the police came, shouldn’t the church be exempted?
“There was a time in our history when I feel like we had that religious freedom — everything could have been closed, but people need to worship,
religion was top-of-the-line because that was the original reason for [the Founders] coming here,” she said Thursday. “The beauty of America is
you can live your life based on what you prioritize as necessary, and we should be able to do the same.”
It is not that she thinks church members are immune to the virus, but God will get them through whatever happens. They try to be smart, she
said, sitting at some distance. But the spiritual power that is produced when they are together, “there isn’t anything comparable to that.”
On Tuesday, the head of 770 Eastern Parkway — the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement — brushed off calls for the building
in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to be closed. Dozens of cases of the virus had already been identified in the region’s ultra-Orthodox communities.
“770 will be open until Mosiach,” Rabbi Zalman Lipsker early Tuesday told COLlive.com, using the Yiddish word for messiah. COLlive is a news
site covering the world’s Chabad-Lubavitch community.
By that night, 770 was closed for the first time in its history. It held a final, crowded prayer service where worshipers danced and prayed late into
the night.
Worry and fear about places that refused to close prompted Aron Wieder, an Orthodox lawmaker in Rockland County, to create a video Tuesday
directed to his community. In Yiddish, with an American flag behind him, Wieder passionately besieged people to stay away from public places.
There are hundreds of synagogues in Rockland County, he said.
“Stay home!” he shouted into the camera, gesturing dramatically with his hands. “We need God’s grace to survive this difficult time! God expects
you to look out for yourself.”
Wieder said he spoke to a rabbi who is a Holocaust survivor who did not want to close. “He was literally crying. He said, ‘I never believed I’d
survive and then have to close my synagogue.’ ” Another rabbi said his building has been open 24 hours since it opened and does not even have
locks.
There are certain prayers that require a quorum of 10 — including the prayer for the dead which mourners are supposed to say every day for a
year. Jewish law also calls for hearing the Torah read directly from the scroll, not a book. But Wieder said he believes the resistance to close
among the ultra-Orthodox was a kind of emotional shock — that the virus must be dramatically deadly or this core of their lives would not be
impacted.
“For an orthodox Jew who has been praying all his life in a synagogue, two or three times a day, if he can’t go, part of themselves is being cut off.
It’s almost like the end of the world.”
On Thursday, synagogues were closed across neighborhoods with large ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations, including Rockland County and
Crown Heights.
Groups of 10 men — called a minyan — met in open courtyards and backyards in various Jewish communities to meet those religious
requirements.
Cremona – The new Samaritan’s Purse Hospital against Covid-19
/0 Commenti/in Italy, North America, Senza categoria/da diresom1985
Ha fornito cure mediche in diversi conflitti, tra i più terribili degli ultimi vent’anni: in Somalia e in Ruanda, nel Sudan e in Kosovo, in Afghanistan e in Iraq. Ora lo staff della Samaritan’s Purse, ONG americana appartenente alla chiesa evangelica, arriva in soccorso dell’ospedale di Cremona. Un rinforzo per i medici e gli infermieri che da 26 giorni sono in trincea per aiutare i cittadini e salvare vite umane.
Lo staff è composto da sessanta persone, tra medici e tecnici. Le operazioni per l’allestimento dell’ospedale da campo sono iniziate mercoledì mattina: la struttura – già sono state montate le prime cinque tende bianche – avrà sessanta posti letto, di cui otto di terapia intensiva. In totale le tende saranno sette, a cui si aggiungerà una unità per il triage e l’accoglienza dei pazienti. Intanto, martedì pomeriggio si è tenuta una lunga riunione tra il direttore generale dell’ospedale Maggiore, Giuseppe Rossi, e i medici atterrati all’aeroporto di Malpensa. Mentre martedì sera, allo scalo di Verona è arrivato l’aero cargo con la struttura e il materiale. La colonna mobile della Protezione civile di Cremona, sessantatré volontari in tutto, è
partita per il ritiro delle attrezzature.
«Quando mi è stato annunciato che sarebbero arrivati, io come altri ci siamo commossi», ha commentato il sindaco di Cremona, Gianluca Galimberti. «Sono profondamente grato all’ong Samaritan’s. Sì, sono proprio come samaritani che vengono ad aiutare altri samaritani, i nostri
sanitari che da 26 giorni sono in trincea». Il sindaco spiega che «siamo la provincia con più casi di contagi e di pazienti in ospedale, se rapportati al numero di abitanti e al numero di medici e infermieri operativi nella nostra zona. Il nostro ospedale fin da subito si è reso disponibile e l’ha fatto anche per aiutare gli altri territori».
Ora, «dopo 26 giorni così, era impossibile proseguire. Con questa consapevolezza è da giorni e giorni che stiamo premendo infinitamente per avere medici, infermieri e strutture. Ringrazio profondamente Regione e governo per le risposte che stanno dando in un momento così complesso. Samaritan’s è un grandissimo regalo alla città e a tutto il territorio per alleviare fatica e sofferenza». Un grazie, il sindaco lo rivolge anche «al cavaliere Giovanni Arvedi, che offre la permanenza dei membri della ONG presso l’albergo Continental, e poi all’Asst per il grande e complesso impegno logistico nella costruzione del campo, alla Protezione civile e alle
persone del Comune di Cremona per il continuo prodigarsi nell’organizzazione complessa anche di questa missione: dalla logistica ai trasporti, all’accompagnamento e alla missione stessa. Grazie a tutti, uniti insieme per la vita e la salute di tutti noi». «La nostra è una battaglia contro il tempo, ma non abbasseremo la guardia», ha detto il presidente della Provincia, Mirko Signoroni.
FRANCESCA MORANDI
COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS – How Are Major Religions Responding to the Coronavirus?
/0 Commenti/in Documents, North America/da diresomTIME – How Religious Leaders Can Help Stop the Spread of Coronavirus
/0 Commenti/in Documents, North America/da diresomhttps://time.com/5807372/coronavirus-religion-science/
by Elaine Howard Ecklund
More than a third of all American adults attend religious services each week, and some 50% belong to some religious institutions. Based on my research on our religious communities, I believe that even with their doors closed, religious organizations can still be vital partners in transmitting accurate scientific information about the coronavirus.
For the past 15 years, I have been studying the interactions between religious and scientific communities. While we may regard religion and science as at odds in our culture, the fact is that many Americans rely on their religious leaders to guide their attitudes about scientific findings. In my forthcoming book, Why Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear, I show that 34% of evangelical Protestants and about 17% of all Americans say they would consult their religious leader with a question about science, especially science that seems to have moral implications.
The role that faith leaders can play in getting the word out about public health measures is considerable. As the director of Rice University’s Religion and Public Life program, I host a monthly meeting at my home of 30 to 50 Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders as well civic leaders from around Houston. The constituents of these leaders alone number well over 300,000.
Congregants are more likely to trust not only their leaders, but those who share their faith, particularly people from their own tradition. One of the best things religious leaders can do, then, is partner with those in their congregations who are scientists, physicians or have other expertise on how viruses spread.
There are plenty of religious scientists to draw upon. My work shows, for example, that nearly 25% of scientists working at universities and colleges and 65% of scientists working outside top research universities are Christians. More generally, a little less than 50% of scientists at top U.S. universities have some form of religious identity.
The interaction between religious and scientific communities can sometimes be inhibited by a perception that they don’t share the same worldview. But my research shows that scientists often do their work out of a core value to heal the world around them. In my interviews with religious scientists, I’ve found that many of them feel similarly about their work and their goals, sometimes drawing on the concept of Shalom, a Hebrew word that broadly refers to seeking peace, harmony, well-being and prosperity that result from the flourishing of all creation. One immunologist told me not long ago, “I see science as an amazing tool to intervene on the human condition.”
If ever religious and scientific communities need to join together in pursuing wholeness and healing for the world, it’s now. Many studies over the past decade shows us that congregations are often the first and most trusted responders in the most vulnerable communities. People are more likely to turn to their faith communities during times of anxiety and emergency. We need to be sure that religious leaders have accurate and up-to-date scientific and medical information to pass on to their congregations in order to slow the rate of disease spread.