A Visitor Questions The St Barnabas Omaha Services

A visitor remarked on the photos and description of services for Bp Lopes's visit to St Marnabas Omaha that was covered in the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society newsletter and also cited in yesterday's post:

I was particularly struck by this in your post yesterday: “Beyond that, with everything else that's going on in the world these days, the news that St Barnabas had a full cast of servers for the bishop's visit seems awfully inward-looking and provincial.”

Some might even call it obnoxious! The spectacle of a sanctuary packed with unmasked servers literally DOWN THE STREET from the Archdiocesan Cathedral, where clergy and congregation wear masks, singing is forbidden, and servers are not currently being used, is in incredibly poor taste. The message: we get to do whatever we want.

It’s in keeping with the general arrogance and recklessness of the place.

The photos and reference to a reception made me assume that perhaps regulations in Nebraska were looser than in other parts of the US. But after I got the e-mail, I went to the Archdiocese of Omaha website, which says in part:

Social distancing will be practiced at all public Masses. . .

• Everyone is encouraged to wear a mask (except children 3 and under), and parishioners are encouraged to bring their hand sanitizer and/or sanitizing wipes.
• For those receiving Holy Communion, please follow the instructions of your pastor for lining up and receiving in a safe manner.
• . . .
• Groups should not gather and socialize inside or outside of church buildings.

I've linked to discussions here by Catholic priests who are deeply uncomfortable with "social distancing" policies and suggest they're in conflict with fundamental human nature. On the other hand, I can't imagine that they would advocate disobeying the bishop's instructions.

It's worth noting that Bp Lopes's expressed policy for ordinariate parishes has been to follow the policies of the local diocese. It's plain that, for the bishop's visit to St Barnabas Omaha, numerous diocesan policies were not followed, based on the account of the visit and photos.

• The servers were photographed not wearing masks and not observing social distancing
• Groups gathered for a reception
• While not explicitly forbidden in the archbishop's policy, food and drink were served at a reception, something typically not normally allowed in churches at this time.

How did Bp Lopes and Fr Catania deal with these exceptions? Did they get the archbishop's authorization, or did they just go ahead and violate the local policy? Did the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society see any problem in publishing this account?