A train stopped at the platform and waited several minutes, probably because so few people got on or off at prior stops that it was running ahead of schedule. Two people disembarked at the stop where I was. Despite the clearly posted instructions from the transit agency, one wore a mask, the other did not. Worse yet, the conductor himself was not wearing a mask. I believe policy would have required him, as it requires bus drivers, not to allow a passenger without a mask to board the train. Good luck with that, apparently.
Other things occurred to me. One is that each of these notices must be quite expensive. Beyond that, I assume there is a whole new bureau in the transit agency that's responsible for designing, ordering, stocking, and applying these legends, at specified locations on platforms, those locations to be specified by the bureau, with personnel trained to apply them properly. However, the ridership on the transit system, it's been quietly let out, has decreased so much that its financial future is in question. Nevertheless, these social distancing notices have an air of permanence.
In short, we're way past flattening the curve, which was the reason given back in March for a lockdown, when there was some reasonable expectation that without it, there might be mass graves in public parks, and people voluntarily surrendered natural rights of assembly, movement, gainful employment, and worship on the understanding that this would be for a limited period. Instead, months later, we're slowly being brought to heel under a new normal, with what look like pretty permanent signs aiming to enforce it.
I think smart pastors, and not just Catholics, are beginning to realize that even if public church services are permitted under highly circumscribed conditions, most social interactions within the parish continue to be proscribed, and this won't be just temporary. It goes without saying that even if there can be in-person masses for 25, 50, or 100 at a time, there'll be no fundraising dinners this year, no coffee hour, no Bible study.
Many states now discern a "spike" in COVID "cases", although both hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline. Thus Florida and California have closed beaches again just in time for the holiday weekend. California Gov Newsom Monday announced that gatherings of people who don't live together would be prohibited on the holiday weekend as well. The arbitrary reimposition of restrictions we thought we over for very vague reasons is deeply troubling.
Probably priests like our pastor and Fr Nicholas, whose homily I linked the other day, have a sense that there is something deeply wrong with these restrictions. Priests are being removed, though, for simply echoing established Church teachings like those of Leo XIII and Pius XII, as posted by Prof Feser on his blog. Thus any opinions they, or even their bishops, venture on the reimposition of COVID measures are likely to be circumspect, at least in the near term.
The problem remains, though, that "social distancing" as states have been trying to impose it goes against human nature, and "reeducation" propaganda isn't going to be much help. We're in unexplored territory. I think some priests and bishops, and not just Catholic clergy, will be in a position to reset things, but there's going to have to be something on the order of Solidarity and Pope St John Paul to accomplish it. Extreme liturgical narcissism, though, won't be much help at all.
