The Church Universal

December 2020

The Current features a monthly column designed to articulate and cultivate our rootedness in our Catholic faith.
Included here will be reference to current events, teachings, and discussion of our relation to the greater Church.

More Church:   November 2020 / October 2020  
2020  /  2019  

by Blake Billings, Ph.D.

While many have remarked that a certain “monastic” quality has shaped our experience of the pandemic, we in monastic communities are not so sure. Normal monastic life itself has been turned on its head. Although there is a sense of isolation or withdrawal, of finding ourselves often forced to turn inward, this is perhaps more “eremitic” than “monastic”: the Rule of Saint Benedict heralds a “cenobitic” way of life, a life of community. Add to that the Benedictine dedication to hospitality, to the welcoming of and openness to guests, and the pandemic has been downright anti-monastic. It is difficult to enumerate all of the ways community life here has been stressed over these months. It is too early to “take stock” and assess the lessons learned, as if it were all past tense. But it may be helpful to pause and try to gain some perspective, to trace the impacts of the pandemic on our life of faith. As sickness within the body provides us with a heightened awareness of its different parts, this global disease makes us more keenly aware of a variety of touchpoints in society, tests the social fabric at all levels, draws us to its weaknesses. This reverberates throughout the life of faith as well. Looking to the larger “cenobitic” life of the universal church, we can outline a journey shared by our own community, within our diocese, and reaching around the world.

While the papal encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” looks forward to the post-pandemic world, we continue to reside in the midst of the crisis. Pope Francis’ more forward-looking document makes its statement as we are now all the more keenly aware of the fissures and failures of the modern world to adequately address the present struggle. During Lent, the pontiff captivated much of the quarantined Catholic world with his homilies from the Santa Marta chapel. The universality of the experience of the pandemic took center stage, and perhaps at no time in our history has a universally shared struggle been so personally visible. The homilies not only addressed topics of the moment that touched so many globally, but were also watched in the shared context of radically reduced Mass attendance, physical distancing, and technological delivery systems. The intercessions at these Masses also addressed the wide array of those affected. Our own community could draw solace from the prayers were offered for teachers and students: “We pray today for teachers who have to work so hard to provide lessons via the internet and other digital ways, and we also pray for students who have to take exams in a way they are not used to. Let us accompany them with prayer.” (April 24, 2020)

A screenshot of the papal Mass on Easter Sunday

Later on, as our period of crisis became extended and expanded, the Holy Father promoted discussion of Catholic Social Teaching, and how we must address the plight of so many as the pandemic, “continues to cause deep wounds, exposing our vulnerability. On every continent there are many who have died, many are ill. Many people and many families are living a time of uncertainty because of socio-economic problems which especially affect the poorest.” General Audience of August 5, 2020. In addition to social teaching, the pope’s prayers during the pandemic, seeking especially the intercession of Our Lady, have continued to speak to our situation: "We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God. In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, Mother of God and our mother, and seek refuge under your protection” (From the Letter for the Month of May, 2020).

Almost as a physician’s examination highlights various points of stress in the human body, critical issues and conflicts of responsibility and authority have tested our multi-layered social bonds. We have witnessed political conflicts erupt over the prerogatives of federal versus state officials. We have even had to attend to county boundaries and their rates of infections. And at the Abbey, we also been acutely aware of church and state. For us in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, this has meant attending carefully to the statements of Governor Gina Raimondo and of Bishop Thomas Tobin. Following the cue of the governor to limit gatherings while still seeking to maintain access to the sacraments, the bishop issued guidelines for the diocese including the familiar elements of distancing, masks, and hygiene. His Christmas update references Deacon Dr. Timothy Flanigan '75, who notes that “no outbreaks of COVID-19 have been linked to church attendance.” Still, the dispensation from Mass extended by the bishop in May remains in place throughout Advent and the Christmas season, encompassing the feast of the Immaculate Conception as well as Christmas Mass itself.

These guidelines from the diocese have shaped much of what the Abbey’s monastic and school communities have done to adapt to the risks and realities of this crisis. And while we have made a variety of specific logistical adjustments, we have also had to reshape them along the way as we have moved into different stages of the pandemic, and must monitor ongoing developments.

We have literally gone “back and forth” with Mass. The monastic community, in its desire to make sacramental experience more fruitful for the viewer, initially reversed the orientation of the altar, so the celebrant faced the back of the choir where a camera was temporarily positioned. When a limited congregation was allowed to return, the camera was re-positioned. This movement around the altar (“ad disorientem”, as it were) to accommodate the status of the congregation, in fact became part of a set of practices that may have lasting impact on the availability of liturgies. With video and audio enhanced to better capture the liturgical event, the move to live-streaming of Mass and Vespers seems solidly established. The community has been greatly blessed in this by the technological expertise of Brother Benedict Maria. His online efforts have led to the creation of a highly developed Abbey YouTube channel, with videos that can searched in a variety of ways, such as by date, season, or even by saint’s name. It has made monastic liturgical life much more visible, available even globally.

The altar as oriented for the initial livestreaming of Mass

With the “new normal” it is easy to forget the many aspects of Mass we previously took for granted. Our in-person adaptations have incorporated distancing and capacity limits. All visitors to the church are greeted by a large bottle of hand sanitizer, a box of complimentary surgical masks, and a sizeable panel listing the regulations. Of the three entrances, two are locked to exterior entry, to channel entrants to the signposted and stocked entryway. Sunday Mass has seen volunteer ushers greeting church-goers, clarifying protocols and counting attendance. Brother Benedict notes that beyond the obvious absence of congregational singing or of communion under both species, we look forward simply to the return of holy water, missalettes, and altar servers. Yet through it all he remembers: “It is still the same Lord who is served and should be worshiped with utmost reverence.” Brother Sixtus dutifully begins the weekend Mass with an announcement clarifying the latest procedures for participation, adding reminders to ensure ongoing compliance and safety. And we can confirm Dr. Flanigan’s assessment, as the School did manage to make it through the Fall Term with very few cases, so too have these adaptations been a success, even with the hazards of the boarding school environment.

But even while successful in terms of public health, what has been, and what will be, the impact of these changes on our religious life? We may hope that it proves to be a kind of “refiner’s fire”, testing and purifying our faith. It has indeed necessitated a close and thoughtful look at all that happens in the liturgy, to structure it safely while preserving its character and meaning. Certainly, the ongoing vigilance necessary to maintain all of this has itself been a challenge. So, has it been working spiritually? While noting that the experience of liturgical life is now “without the same closeness we are used to,” Prior Michael feels “we’ve done as well as can be done under these circumstances.” Even if services have had to continue “without the same music and involvement” and masks “create distance between people,” the Prior feels the fundamental function of liturgical life has been preserved. The Eucharistic liturgy is most basically about “making Christ present in the physical sacrament.” Thus, he sees a most basic challenge of the pandemic: “So how can one make Christ present in that way when most people cannot be present?” The rediscovery of the value of “spiritual communion” has helped here and has been promoted universally in the church. For our community, the Prior hopes we can “assist that by making the Mass visible through video streaming and making the Mass as reverent and relevant as possible.” Contrasted with other regions, we have been blessed to be able to continue in-person services for the entire School community, albeit divided over two services.

Confirmation 2020

We have now seen the impact of the coronavirus on nearly a full liturgical cycle. Perhaps its most direct spiritual lesson came with its introduction during Lent, for its restrictions seem intuitively to fit the Lenten spirit. But now we have passed through a muted Easter season, ordinary time anything but ordinary, and an Advent of pre-exhausted preparation. And we anticipate a Christmas season whose star shines more remotely. But through these seasons of change, each marked by new adaptations to the pandemic, we recall that it is “the same Lord who is served” and present yet again, even in our unworthy offerings.