Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Resurrection Family:
Perhaps some of you saw the interview of our mayor, Steven Reed, on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC on Thursday evening, May 21, 2020. Or if you get your news from our local paper, The Montgomery Advertiser, you might have seen the headline regarding the critical shortage of ICU beds in our area hospitals. Both sources indicated that our beloved city and surrounding counties are experiencing a significant increase in the number of people being infected with Covid-19 and an increase in the number of deaths caused by the virus. Plainly, we have become a hot spot for this pandemic as some governmental and ecclesial leaders are allowing or promoting limited resumption of all kinds of public gatherings and venues. Iam deeply troubled by these decisions and cannot proceed with a clear conscience in implementing them. Several weeks ago we received directives from the Archdiocese of Mobile allowing for the limited resumption of public Masses with accompanying procedures to make those services safer. The Archdiocesan guidelines stated that if a parish/pastor did not feel these procedures could be done safely they could continue to refrain from even limited public celebrations. I found several of the directives unsettling, for public health and pastoral theology reasons. I also reviewed the guidelines suggested by our governor and the Alabama Department of Public Health. I submitted the Church and State of Alabama recommendations to several medical professionals in our parish community. They were unanimous and passionate in their advice NOT to begin limited services again, especially in light of who we, Resurrection Parish/ Mission Center, are demographically and culturally. I am most grateful to our parishioner and my beloved primary care physician, Dr. Myrtle Goore Davis, for her expert and thoughtful review and medical critique of the recommendations. In her and others’ professional and expert opinion even if we followed the guidelines strictly they are not epidemiologically and medically SAFE. There are flaws in the approach and understanding of what the suggested practices can do to protect us all.
Make no mistake about it, there are health disparities that are found in the community of people of color that are rooted in culture and lifestyle but also in systemic racism and classism which limits people’s current and historic access to quality health care, good nutrition and safe living and work environments. These factors and others have made this virus particularly deadly for African American communities and for economically challenged communities. Sadly, some of the rush to re-open lies in the awareness of the disproportionate impact the virus has on communities of color and the poor and the terrible reality that those lives are not valued. In the best tradition of our Church, all of us should be advocating to federal, state and local officials to use the full power and purse of these governments to secure income, food and health care for all citizens during this crisis and especially for the most vulnerable among us. The ungodly rush to reopen for someone’s political purposes is inhumane and demonic.
The most expert and thoughtful scientists and medical professionals across the country and around the world are warning about the danger of re-opening our communities without the requisite testing and other public health programs in place guiding those decisions. They predict a second wave of infections and deaths that will once again close reopened businesses and places of worship and devastate lives and the economy.
We all crave a return to some level of normalcy but we have to be disciplined enough and caring enough to wait until it is safer for us to gather together around the table of God’s Word and the Table/Altar of the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation. Therefore, we will continue to offer electronic and digital services via our website and other social media platforms. Let me assure you, I miss every member of this community and our wonderful liturgies but I would rather wait a little while longer than run the risk of any of us doing harm to all us by implementing these guidelines.
May our gracious God continue to sustain us as we continue to be Church for each other while absent from our place of worship.
In the Risen One,
Fr. Manuel Williams, C.R.
Pastor