Don’t pin me down . . . 

Like most modern words, “Heresy” is used both vaguely and diversely. It is used vaguely because the modern mind is as averse to precision in ideas as it is enamored of precision in measurement. It is used diversely because, according to the man who uses it, it may represent any one of fifty things.

He has Christian heresies in mind, as in his 1936 book, The Great Heresies (p. 7). Cavalier Books. Kindle Edition.

First three paragraphs:

The governor of Illinois has said he will continue to ban public gatherings of more than 50 people—including religious services—until a vaccine or treatment for coronavirus is available.

The announcement comes as the White House is reported to have shelved guidance from the Centers for Disease Control on gradually reopening sections of the American economy and society.

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday that gatherings of more than 50 people in the state would not be allowed until a coronavirus vaccine “or highly effective treatment” is “widely available.”

The “for a year” not yet in sight. #4 has it, from the inimitable, omnipresent Dr. F. et al.:

Public health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have cautioned that a COVID-19 vaccine is at least 12 to 18 months from being developed and made available.

So Pritzker is taking a very hard line, requiring “highly effective treatment . . . widely available.” Perfection. He throws boldness to the winds.

According to Pritzker’s five-part plan for reopening the state, [not even] gatherings of ten or fewer people are . . . allowed until phase 3, the “recovery” phase that can begin, at earliest, May 29. However, following a lawsuit last week, the governor has allowed citizens to leave their homes for religious services as long as ten or fewer people are gathered for worship.

Has allowed it, yes. So Chicago has its (also cautious) what-to-do:

The Archdiocese of Chicago announced on May 1 that public Masses with 10 or fewer people would resume.

Other dioceses across the United States have already begun rolling back total suspensions on the public celebration of Mass.

First come, first served? Ushers at the door to bar the door on admitting the eleventh? Sequence of low masses 20 minutes each, w/shorty-short homily, no handclasp of peace, no nothing that takes up sacramental time. Sign up now for adoration? Sign up for your mass of choice. It’s the sacrament. Do it.

And when required masses are done, open the building for independent (silent) prayer — not a service, so Pritzker couldn’t stop it — and ushers pointing out the six-foot minimum.

Modest proposal.

===========================

Later:  Such masses would not pass muster for many who (to quote Obama) cling to their post-Vatican 2 add-ons. But as imperfect as these masses would be, they would do the sacramental part completely, leaving out nothing that is essential.

The haiku-homily might be a good idea anyhow, building on what a South Side Baptist pastor once passed on to me, about the preacher who, asked to give a two-minute sermon, said a week. If a ten-minute one? A day. If an hour? “I’m ready right now!”

Libertarian Economist David R. Henderson argues:

The lockdowns have caused enormous destruction. Some economists quite reasonably expect the unemployment rate in May to hit 20 percent. [already 16%] Other economists have estimated that second quarter GDP will fall by 35 percent on an annual basis.

[Interesting distinction —>] Although voluntary social distancing on its own would have led to large increases in unemployment and large drops in GDP, a reasonable estimate is that the government-enforced lockdowns, combined with absurdly high federal subsidies to unemployment insurance, have caused over half of the increase in unemployment and over half of the drop in real GDP.

more more more here . . .

Here is something from WSJ.com that might interest you:

Locked Down: How the Coronavirus Drove a Record Rise in Unemployment

I mean it. This is a marvelous, graph-filled report. A short history of the virus as economy-thrasher.

No PC or Mac or other app should be without it.

Bewildering:

What in the world are we mere mortals supposed to make of the Supreme Court hearing of arguments in respect of the Little Sisters of the Poor? We listened to every word streamed in the case today and came away wondering: How is it possible that in America a group of nuns has to make repeated trips to the Supreme Court to avoid having to arrange for their employees to be covered by birth control insurance?

Something radically amiss . . .

In recent weeks dominated by virus news. the church as worldwide communicator has turned up missing in some major issues.

One example: when the coronavirus pandemic broke, and there was a lack of room for patients in intensive care units, consideration was given to giving priority to younger people, over the elderly. The same rationale risked being applied (and sometimes it was) when, in fact, there was room in intensive care units. The dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life highlighted this risk in a document.
After the publication of the document, nothing more has been said. The bishops did not comment anything further. Above all, Catholics in society did not speak about it. The issue of a sort of “hidden euthanasia” for the elderly never came up. However, this issue is part of a cultural debate that becomes a political question. It is about giving a voice to the elderly and least able to speak for themselves. Why were there no Catholic intellectuals to rise up to this challenge?

Another:

Another big issue on the table is that of freedom of worship. There is, it is true, the need to comply with health safety measures. However, very few commentators saw in the prohibition to celebrate Mass with the faithful in attendance a possible issue from the legal/international standpoint.
In this case, there was a lack of an institutional mentality realizing that the Holy See has autonomy in making these decisions. It should not be the State deciding that there be no religious gatherings. From a formal point of view, the Church should formally agree not to hold gatherings, thus meeting the government’s needs. It is a broad issue, worth discussing. Where have the Catholic intellectuals been?
Freedom to worship is part of religious freedom. And religious freedom is about the possibility to profess religion and live accordingly. Who does guarantee, then, that the Church and the faithful, in general, will always be able to proclaim their faith publicly?

It would be a good time to offer leadership on such matters, says veteran Vaticanista Andrea Gagliarducci in the most recent of his extended weekly commentaries, MondayVatican — Vatican at a Glance.

Feed your deepest yearnings or get a load of the opposition. Jacobin’s your man.

First responders dissed.

NEW YORK CITY, May 6, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The Police Benevolent Association (PBA), the largest law-enforcement union in the Big Apple, has come out against New York politicians’ priorities in handling the COVID-19 outbreak, arguing that police need to be let “out of the social distancing enforcement business.”

“The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves,” PBA president Patrick Lynch declared, the New York Post reports. “Nobody has a right to interfere with a police action. But now that the inevitable backlash has arrived, they are once again throwing us under the bus.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Will you pardon me? I have to go and throw up.

The artist: “She’s a woman of color in our city making s— happen.”