"Unchurching of Catholics"

Jim McCrea shared  this article by Msgr. Eric Barr on his email thread.  I hope Jim won't mind if we discuss it a bit over here.

Msgr. Barr lays out the problem as he sees it:

"The Eucharist has already been basically forgotten by a large majority of Catholics. Yet, there are still millions of practicing Catholics who have found solace in this Sacrament of sacraments. As the pandemic drags on, the parishes have only marginally opened for Mass, and that fact is not going to change soon. The parishes aren’t responding well enough to bring people back in a timely way."

"...A question will need to be raised. If the Eucharist is not central to Catholic life, what makes me a Catholic?"

"Catholics, like Jews, will become even more cultural in name than practicing in reality. (If I were Jewish, I might take exception to that.)"

"...The Unchurching of Catholics will lead to an absence of personal spirituality."

"...The Unchurching of Catholics will strip the Church of the experience of Scripture." 

"...The Unchurching of Catholics will result in the death of the community nature of Catholicism. "

   "A Baptist can exist marooned on an island with his Bible. A Catholic? Not so much. We need each other."  (A Baptist might take issue with this analysis...)

But never fear, Msgr. Barr has some solutions:

"...Require an obligation for a Sunday Liturgy of the Word, either among friends, or provided visually by the Diocese. Stop inviting people to watch the Eucharistic Liturgy on TV, except for shut-ins and the hospitalized. It is not a real Eucharistic celebration if it is simply watched. It cannot count as a substitute for the Eucharist. A Liturgy of the Word, however, is theologically real when celebrated this way."

"...Restore the obligation of fasting and not eating meat on Friday. Anyone who remembers this form of fast and abstinence knows it not only focussed people on the importance of remembering what Christ did for us to save us all, but it was also a great way to remember our identity as Catholics."

"...Realistically see how often you and your family could attend Sunday Mass. If it is only once a month or once every two months, make it a major family event."

  I actually agree with that, however not with this:

"Simply receiving communion outside of Mass should be discouraged as it separates the reception of the Eucharist from the Eucharistic Celebration and Prayer."

I don't disagree with Msgr. Barr that a serious problem exists.  My problem is that his solutions are clericalism on steroids.  They are top on down. He didn't ask lay people what their ideas were, or what they wanted.  That is pretty much a problem across the board in the church, not just with what he suggests.

He wants to impose obligations.  Presumably if you impose obligations, you also impose penalties, aka sins.  Aren't there enough actual sins, that you don't have to make new ones?  And if they weren't going to Mass in the first place, this is going to help?

We already have the ancient obligation, the commandment to "keep holy the Lord's Day." Traditionally Catholics have honored this by going to Mass.  Liturgy of the Word services and Communion services outside of Mass are both still connections to the Mass, not a severing of connection.

Empower the laity to do what they are already allowed to do to stay connected to the Mass.  A layperson can lead a Liturgy of the Word service, either in their family home or another location with distancing.  Same with a Communion service outside of Mass, led by an EMHC or deacon.  This last suggestion is apparently fraught.  From what I am observing, priests retain complete control of the reserved Sacrament, in that it is literally under lock and key, and only they have access during the quarantine.  I get that they want to prevent disrespect, we all do. But you aren't preserving the idea of the Eucharist as our "source and summit" if you make it difficult if not impossible to receive it on any regular basis.