Pandemic Changes This is the summer of our discontent. Like a long rolling wave in the midst of the sea, the coronavirus surges and ebbs. It is deterred not by lockdowns or openups, temperature or vacation plans. Guess what? Looks like we will have to live with this wretched illness, just like we live with all the other coronaviruses. Oh, we’ll get a vaccine fairly soon, but it won’t fare any better against this plague than against the flu–we’ll just… Read more
July 8, 2020
Plague Consequences: The Unchurching Of Catholics And What To Do About It
July 8, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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June 29, 2020
More Than Just A Fallen Statue–The Oppression of Tolerance
June 29, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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What Iconoclasm Is It’s more than just a fallen statue–whichever toppled statue you wish to talk about. Iconoclasm–the erasing of images, is a wave that overcomes society every once in a while. And it is never a good thing. Here’s why: Very Selective Capricious–The mob judges someone an unforgivable sinner, but lets other famous people, worse than they, continue to be honored with images and statues. A great example of this is Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood,… Read more
June 22, 2020
Pandemic Inertia In The Church
June 22, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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Remember What Happened To The Church After The Black Plague The last pandemic that paralyzed the world wide Catholic Church was the Black Plague of the 14th century. You could excuse that paralysis since about half of Europe perished in that pestilence. That was very bad. Just think of what it did. First of all, it killed off the best and brightest of the leadership of the Church. The holy priests and nuns who ministered to the sick died… Read more
June 17, 2020
Catholics: They Are Not Coming Back…Unless…
June 17, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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They Are Not Coming Back They’re not coming back to Mass. Let me say it again. Catholics will not come back to Mass when the pandemic is over. I know, parishes will say that their wait lists are full and they are at max capacity for Sunday Mass right now. But that’s right now, when we can only have a hundred people, or a congregation of 25-35% of a church’s capacity. We priests have all heard the yearning of… Read more
June 3, 2020
The Two-Edged Sword Of Hypocrisy–The Archbishop And The President
June 3, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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Two Difficult Days For Presidential Photo-Ops It was awkward, there on the public sidewalk outside the Church of the Presidents, holding a Bible. The next day, it wasn’t. That day, it was truly a moving private moment with a man and woman kneeling in front of a relic of Pope St. John Paul the Great. I’m talking about the two photo-ops that caused such consternation recently: the President holding up a Bible in the midst of a riot torn city,… Read more
May 31, 2020
Catholic Mass with Masks
May 31, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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Peek-a-boo, I see you. The Church Cautiously Re-opens. St. Rita Parish, where I am priest help, opened its doors to its first Sunday Mass Worshipers in months. I was there to welcome them in for the 7 am and 7:45 am Masses. It was great to have Mass with people again. I had begun to wonder if I was the last Catholic in America. Here are some random thoughts about the experience. Super organized with ten volunteers to give instructions,… Read more
May 31, 2020
Supreme Court Punts On Pandemic Religious Restrictions
May 31, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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Supremes At Work Although it looks like Chief Justice Roberts muddied the waters as usual in preventing the court from decisively ruling on the constitutionality of religious restrictions in the face of the pandemic, a second look shows a more pragmatic reason. The court’s upholding the right of the state to set some restrictions on religious gatherings seems to rest on two points. First, religious gatherings are not like businesses because gatherings are more socially intensive and lengthy. They… Read more
May 23, 2020
A Wonderful Dali Ascension
May 23, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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Hello Dali!!! Hello, Dali!!! On this Feast of the Ascension, it is worth looking at one of the most intriguing and vibrant paintings of the Ascension. But before we see what a masterpiece Dali has created, we ought to look at the Ascension itself. Only in the past several years, have I really understood the Ascension as perhaps the central dogma of our faith. Why do I say this? Well think about it. How do we have any contact… Read more
April 1, 2020
One Friday In Lent, The Papacy Embraced The World
April 1, 2020 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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As the Dark was rising, There in the dying of the light, He walked alone, Dressed in white, A candle of hope. The rain fell long, There in the dying of the light, As the Dark was rising. erb A Grand Gesture, An Iconic Moment They speak better with gestures than words–the Popes through the ages. Words can be misunderstood, easily forgotten. Not gestures, not the simple acts of humanity. We saw that last Friday, March 27 in the eerily… Read more
December 8, 2019
Sabotaging Sheen: Shepherds Suborning Sanctity
December 8, 2019 By Monsignor Eric Barr, STL
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Lifting the Cloud on the Beatification Scandal Hard to believe that the cloud surrounding the Bishop Sheen beatification fiasco would clear so quickly and become so patently understandable. Thanks has to be given to Msgr. James Kruse, the Vicar General of Peoria and member of the Bishop Sheen Foundation. In a six page memorandum, he clearly sets out the timeline and the facts stipulating that the Diocese of Rochester sabotaged the process and that Bishop Matano enlisted other archbishops to… Read more
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