On February 10, Cardinal Collins issued a letter to "All clergy and staff" of the Archdiocese of Toronto which I have in my possession. It is not yet posted on the web page, when it is, I will add it to this post.
In his letter, Cardinal Collins writes of the upcoming relaxation of the Ontario provincial lockdown diktats with regions of the province going into colour zones in the reverse from the lockdown. The Archdiocese of Toronto extends through multiple areas. The Cardinal expects that Toronto, Peel and York will move to "Grey" which still means the limit of religious services to ten (thanks to our Jewish brothers, or it would be "0" and areas of Durham and Simcoe to perhaps "Red" or "Orange" which would mean a return to 30% occupancy.
Interesting that His Eminence states that he states that notwithstanding provincial diktats, municipalities often, and I suggest illegally, move beyond these. In a not so obvious way, Collins confirms this writer's sources that the Ontario Government did not ban Holy Communion on the tongue and that Queen's Park was "shocked" that some municipalities and public health apparatchiks went that far. Collins, rather than protest these heinous actions, went along with the heinous interference in Catholic worship by uber scarf aficionado Dr, Eileen "Cruella" de Villa, Toronto's Chief Medical Officer of Health.
ones pearls, His Eminence bemoans that retail will be allowed to open to a percentage of capacity but that no indication that this will be the case for churches has been given. He indicates that he, along with other faith leaders have been approaching Premier Ford on this but it seems the unchurched ignoramus at Queen's Park is not budging. Collins then indicates that if there is no move on this matter he will be releasing a public statement next week.
Too little, too late, Your Eminence, as my next post on Andy MacBeth and the collapse of a once bustling parish will reveal.
Nice legacy.