Beatrice Anne Borman is seen during her baptism at St. James Church in Falls Church, Va., April 18, 2020. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Morgan Pino and Billy Borman were advised by their pediatrician to bring their newborn daughter from New York to Sterling, Va., and stay with Billy’s parents. With most sacraments in the New York Archdiocese canceled, the couple “felt blessed” to have their baby baptized in the Arlington Diocese. (CNS photo/Zoey Maraist, Arlington Catholic Herald )
By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON — In a “touchless” environment spawned by the coronavirus pandemic, living out the church’s sacramental life is tough without the element of touch: the reception of the Eucharist, the baptism with water, the laying on of hands, the anointing with oil.
Even so, good works have continued to flourish despite this missing dimension, remarked panelists during a May 19 forum on COVID-19 and the sacramental life of the church.
“We’ve stopped baptisms in Chicago. We’ve stopped all the weddings and funerals. All those ordinations we were going to do? All those ordinations have been stopped,” said Father Richard Fragomeni, a professor at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a priest of the Diocese of Albany, New York, during the forum, part of the National Conference on Catechetical Leadership’s online “Witness” conference.
“There are some constants about liturgy, some constants about our sacramental world, some constants about our sacramentality. But all of those constants like participation, the laying on of hands, eating and drinking, bread, wine, oil, fire, water, all of those constants can only be shaped and celebrated and realized in specific contexts. And since the Second Vatican Council, we have been appreciating them more,” Father Fragomeni said.
“You see someone else reach out with love and give someone a helping hand. That’s just a whole different ballgame, and we’re seeing that very much today in this COVID crisis,” said Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, a social scientist and a columnist for Religion News Service. “The first responders and the nurses and the doctors who take care of people who are sick and put their lives at risk. Any sensible person would run.
“If that’s not the power of the Spirit,” he added, he doesn’t know what is. “I think we should be surprised by love and not take it for granted.”
Ellie Hidalgo, a pastoral associate at Mission Dolores in Los Angeles, participated in the panel from Miami, where she was grieving the sudden death of her brother when stay-at-home orders were issued in California and Florida.
While it’s a disruption, said Hidalgo — a former reporter for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ old newspaper, The Tidings — it has proved providential. “We’ve had a lot of time to deepen our prayer life, and tell stories,” she said. “It has been an unexpected blessing to be so close together in this time of grief and in celebrating my brother’s life.”
“The question is what happens now when people are experiencing the Eucharist, visually without all the other constants, like socializing, worship as a community, socializing before and after,” Father Fragomeni said.
