Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Glenrock Wyoming

This photograph is a side view of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Glenrock, Wyoming.  This Missouri Synod Lutheran Church is obviously of modern architecture but I don't know its date.

Lex Anteinternet: Pandemic

Lex Anteinternet: Pandemic: May 23, 2020


This is Memorial Day weekend, generally an at least somewhat somber event, and this year particularly so.  We start with this news item from This Day In Wyoming's History, for yesterday, May 22, 2020.

2020  Governor Gordon orders flag's at half staff until Sunday, May 24, in honor of the victims of the Coronavirus.  The proclamation read:

Governor orders flags be flown at half staff statewide until May 24

in honor of the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Governor Mark Gordon, pursuant to President Donald Trump's Proclamation, has ordered both the U.S. and State of Wyoming flags be flown at half-staff statewide until sunset on Sunday, May 24, 2020 in honor of the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Presidential Proclamation follows: 

Our Nation mourns for every life lost to the coronavirus pandemic, and we share in the suffering of all those who endured pain and illness from the outbreak. Through our grief, America stands steadfast and united against the invisible enemy. May God be with the victims of this pandemic and bring aid and comfort to their families and friends. As a mark of solemn respect for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, May 24, 2020. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred forty-fourth.


DONALD J. TRUMP

On a related note, the Wyoming Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery in Evansville, Wyoming, cancelled its traditional Memorial Day event due to the desire to avoid a large crowd and the impossibility of complying with current crowd restrictions.

Cemetery buildings of the Wyoming Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery.

In the typical American fashion, Memorial Day is also a three day weekend and the traditional beginning of summer for Americans.  It usually features picknics and gatherings.  This year, the public ones have been closed.

Also notable, of course, its nature means its associated with religious services of various kinds. At this point a lot of churches are opening up in disregard of the present orders, although others with large structures are not fully open yet. In any event, President Trump entered the fray on this yesterday and classified churches as "essential" entities and urged Governors to open them back up, threatening to open them by Presidential fiat if they fail, although its doubtful that he has that power.

Lex Anteinternet: May 16, 1920. The Canonization of Joan d'Arc

Lex Anteinternet: May 16, 1920. The Canonization of Joan d'Arc:

May 16, 1920. The Canonization of Joan d'Arc

A doodle of Joan d'Arc by Clément de Fauquembergue on the margin of the protocol of the Parliament of Paris from May 10, 1429, two years prior to her death.  Clément de Fauquembergue was the parliamentary registrar and the news of the her victory at Orleans had just reached Paris.  The doodle is the only know illustration of her done during her lifetime.

On this day in 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan d'Arc, the 15th Century peasant girl who lead French forces in a revived effort to recapture lost grounds from the English after hearing voices commanding her to act for the French crown.  She ultimately paid for her efforts with her life, being burned at the stake after being falsely convicted of heresy, a charge now universally regarded as absurd and which was itself reversed in 1456.

Even no less of figure as Winston Churchill regarded Joan as a saint.  That the illiterate farm girl was able to gain access first to the French crown and then the army in the field commander was and is proof of her divine mission. With the army, she offered advice to its noble commanders which was frequently taken and French fortunes against the English in fact reversed and their army started to do remarkably well.

She is believed to have been born in 1412 in a region of Lorraine that retained loyalty to the French crown during the Hundred Years War, a contest between the Plantagenets, the Norman rulers of England, and the House of Valois, the rulers of France, over who should rule France. The house she grew up in and the village church there still stand.  As those who have ready Henry V know, the English long maintained that they should rule both kingdoms and they often regarded France as more important than in England.  That contest commenced in 1337 and featured a long running series of campaigns.  Trouble in the French royal family had been taken advantage of by Henry V who had been able to greatly expand the amount of English controlled territory in the 1415 to 1417 period.  By 1429, when Joan commenced her mission, half of France was controlled directly by England or by French duchies that were loyal to England.

The English commenced a a siege of the FRench city of Orleans in 1428, a town that was a holdout in its region for the French king, Charles VII.

Joan began to have visions in 1425, at which time she was 13 years old.  She identified the first figures she saw as St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret, who told her to drive the English out of France and take the Dauphin to Reims for his consecration.  At age 16 she made demands upon a relative to take her to see the crown which were received with scorn.  Nonetheless she was taken to Vaucouleurs where she demanded an armed escort to the royal court, which was denied. Returning the following year, she secured the support of two soldiers and their urgings and support she was conducted to the court after she reported the results of a distant battle she had not been at two days prior to messengers arriving to report it.  She as then escorted to the court disguised as a male soldier as it involved crossing hostile Burgundian territory.  At that time she was 17 years old and Charles VII 26.

She secured permission to travel with the army, which was granted.  Everything she used in the mission was donated to her, including the banner that she used.  She never used any weapons in battle but rode under her banner. She did, however, gain access to councils of war and was listened to. As noted, the fortunes of the French reversed in this period.  The siege of Orleans was broken by the French and Reims taken. The Dauphin was crowned as a result in Reims.

After a brief truce between the English and the French she was captured in battle in 1430 and put on trial for heresy.  Heresy being a religious offense, she was tried by English and Burgundian clerics, but the English officers oversaw the trial.  The trial was irregular and conducted without religious authority and without the individual commissioned to find evidence against her being able to find any.  Her conviction hinged on her having worn male clothing when under escort across hostile Burgundian soil.  She was convicted by this tribunal of heresy and burned at the stake in May 31, 1431.  Her executioner later greatly feared that his service in this role would result in his damnation.

In spite of her death, the dramatic reversal in French fortunes continued on and by 1450 the English had been pushed off the continent.  In fact, French borders surpassed their current ones, as France's resulting borders included what is now part of Belgium, a not surprising result given that Belgium is a multiethnic state.

A regular canonical trial to examine the first one's propriety was convened in 1455 and reversed the conviction in 1456.

She's been a popular figure ever since her death and in any age the nature of her mission is hard to deny.  Illiterate and born in a region separated from the retreating French royal lands, she nonetheless managed to convince the French crown and the chivalric leaders of its army that she had a divine mission, something that was aided by her knowledge of things that she could not have known but for her commission.  Under her, in spite of the fact that she was a teenage girl with no experience in military matters, French military fortunes permanently reversed.

It's no doubt her youth and gender that have caused her popularity to remain outside of France, but she is a saint whose nature should cause moderns to pause.

MKTH photograph of the statue of St. Joan d'Arc in Notre Dame de Paris.

She was not, as some no doubt imagine her, as some sort of proto feminist teenage leader in an age of male patrimony and would not have seen things that way.  She was singularly devout and saw her mission as a religious one.  She was known to be opposed to the heresies of her era and Islam. She was intensely Catholic and caused the army she lead to be adherent to the faith.  The war for control of France changed from a contest between two royal families to a war with religious overtones and even, as viewed from a modern eye, as one involving nationalism in an early form.  Her modern fans would do well to take note of her mission and the fact that its impossible to imagine it without crediting the divine voices that she attributed it to.

And indeed, her mission did have impacts on the religious map of Europe in ways that would not be possible to appreciate at the time of her execution at age 19 in May, 1430.  England was pushed off the continent in 1450 by which time Henry VI was king. That same year he was forced to put down a rebellion against the crown in England.  In 1533, a mere 83 years later during a period of time in which events often moved slowly, King Henry VIII would take the formerly devout England away from the Church and marry his pregnant mistress Anne Boleyn, bringing the Reformation to England in a personal effort to generate a male successor through a fertile female. The following acts would result in crown licensed theft of church property, murder and decades of strife and war.  While France would fall to secularism in 1790, its position up until that time remained stalwart.

Communion and the State. Wyoming dictates how the faithful will receive and what that reveals about what people understand and don't understand.

St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

We've been unusually active here in an unusual way, for this blog, since the COVID 19 Pandemic struck.  The reason is obvious.  Churches, like every other institution, have been greatly impacted by the Pandemic.

Well, not like every other institution.  While its seemingly easy for some to forget, including civil authorities, a church isn't like a restaurant or a bar or something, and particularly depending upon a person's faith, the closure of religious services, and services mean more than just a Sunday gathering, can not only be problematic, but traumatic, and even dire, in their consequences.

This is particularly so for the Apostolic Churches, those being, for those who might not be familiar with the term, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.  The Apostolic Churches have a relationship with their clergy that Protestant Christians do not.  Members of the Apostolic faiths depending upon the clergy for administration of the sacraments.  Nobody but an ordained cleric, and more specifically in terms of the Apostolic faiths, a cleric who can trace his ordination through a Bishop who was one of the Apostles, can deliver the sacraments.  We've gone into this elsewhere and will forgo doing so here, but we'd note that the closure of Catholic and Orthodox Churches during the pandemic is, therefore, uniquely problematic for Apostolic Christians.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Casper Wyoming.

Those closures are not, contrary to what has been repeatedly claimed during this crisis, fully unparallelled.  Churches were in fact closed during the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic, although I do not know for how long.  A review of period newspapers demonstrates this to be the case.  Therefore, those numerous, mostly heavily Traditional, voices that claim "Catholics have never been denied the sacraments" aren't fully correct when they mean that church doors have not been closed due to disease before.  Moreover, while I haven't researched it, I'm fairly confident, just from having run across references here and there, that churches of all types have been closed before due to local pandemics.  Indeed, something we've forgotten, as we always view our own times as fully analogous to the past, is that epidemics were once quite common.

While I don't know the situation in the Orthodox Churches, closures have been controversial, as noted, in some Catholic quarters and have resulted in petitions to Bishops to open things back up. At least for the most part those petitions have not resulted in changes, but churches are now actually beginning to open up.  Some Protestant churches that closed early on have actually reopened in slight defiance, as they're usually only a little bit ahead of changes in local orders, to state quarantine commands.  I think I've read of one Catholic one doing so, and I saw a reference, but didn't follow up on it, to at least one SSPX chapel doing so, although as Catholics know or should know the relationship between the SSPX and the Church is problematic.  At least one diocese in New Mexico did reopen public Masses, and while there was concern, it was not in defiance of a closure order.

Which brings us to Wyoming, which is providing an interesting example of how things may develop and how that could be really odd, if not problematic, for Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

The Catholic and Orthodox Churches recognize seven sacraments, those being baptism, Communion (receiving the Holy Eucharist), confirmation, reconciliation (confession of sins), anointing of the sick, marriage and holy orders. 

The Seven Sacraments, altarpiece, 1450.  Sacraments are depicted being administered, from left to right, are baptism, confirmation, confession, Communion (center panel), holy orders, marriage and anointing of the sick.

The way the sacraments are administered and received is fairly poorly understood by non Catholics as well as Catholics.  Baptism, for example, is a sacrament which the Catholic Church recognizes can be conferred by non Catholics upon non Catholics and which remains perfectly valid.*  A Christian baptized in another church is never "rebaptized" if the person later becomes Catholic and even laymen can validly baptize a person although the baptism is illicit unless done in a dire emergency.

Somewhat similarly, it requires a priest to perform a valid marriage if one of the parties being married is a Catholic, but due to Canon Law, not due to the nature of marriage. The Church didn't always routinely witness marriages but came to do so to protect the parties, particularly the female party.  Now all marriages involving Catholics, with some exceptions, must be performed by a priest, but not all marriages are sacramental, as both parties must be baptized Christians in order for that to occur.

Confirmation in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is normally performed by a Bishop, but for the Orthodox and the Eastern Rite its normally administered contemporaneously at baptism by the priest.  Confessions can only be heard by a priest.  Anointing of the sick can likewise only be done by a priest.  Holy Orders, i.e., ordaining of priests and deacons, can only be done by Bishops.

And consecration of the Eucharist can only be done by a priest in the Apostolic Churches.  The same position is taken by those churches closely based on the Apostolic Churches, such as the churches in the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Church.

Communion in the desert during World War Two. This is likely an Anglican priest, give as these are British soldiers.

All of these churches have a very distinct view of what the Eucharist is, and they believe it is the real body and blood of Christ, not a symbol. They don't all agree on what exactly the nature of Host is, as there's at least a difference in understanding between the Apostolic Churches and the Lutheran Church, and determining what various churches in the Anglican Communion believe is a bit difficult at times, but by and large they all agree that only a priest or pastor can consecrate a Host.

What various Protestant dominions, outside the ones we just mentioned, believe about their communions, and most of them have one, varies, but quite a few simply view it as a symbol.  Many of these have communion only occasionally as a result, with a much different understanding of what is occuring. And, for that matter, the Apostolic Churches and those closely based on it would regard those other churches as unable to validly consecrate a Host in any event, and therefore likewise agree that in those churches, as opposed to in their church, it is a symbol.

Depiction of a Protestant Communion.

Which brings us to the recent order by the Governor of the State of Wyoming.

Wyoming is opening up its churches, with restrictions.  Those provisions are here:

Those are, of course, all the provisions.  The one that brings in our post here is 4(g), which states:

Communion shall be served in individual containers.

The really remarkable thing here is that a state order purports to direct how Communion will be received. 

I'm not a Canon Lawyer, but this provision strikes me as impossible for the Apostolic Churches to comply with.

Indeed, as should be evident by the discussion set out above, Communion, while it happens in every Mass, is a major matter for Apostolic Churches.  Apostolic Churches that aren't in communion with each other have rules about the reception of Communion by members of the other churches.  I.e., Catholic Churches will allow Orthodox Christians to receive Communion in a Catholic Church, but in most places its discouraged so as to not offend the Orthodox. The Orthodox, in contrast, are very reluctant to allow Catholics to receive Communion in their churches and in some cases simply won't allow it.  Neither the Catholic Churches or the Orthodox will allow those outside of the Catholic and Orthodox churches to receive Communion except under specific circumstances.  

Recipients of Communion must not be bearing unforgiven mortal sins.  

At least Catholics are obligated to receive Communion at least once a year, although most receive it much more frequently than that, and some daily.  Most adherent Orthodox are like most Catholics and receive it weekly.

The method of reception of the Holy Eucharist is very prescribed and actually subject to debate among Catholics.  For most of recent history Latin Rite Catholics, and those Protestants whose faiths are closely based on the Latin Rite, received Communion on the tongue, delivered by the priest.  Up until the 1960s, this usually meant that they received it kneeling at an alter rail with a Communion Plate held below the receiving person to catch the consecrated Host if it was dropped.  Following Vatican II, this was changed as alter rails came out of many churches, a sad development in that many were beautiful works of art, and the communicants then received on the tongue by going up to the priest, receiving standing as a rule.  Starting at some time in the 70s or 80s, actually as an act of odd disobedience to the rubics, Catholics in many places, including the United States, started receiving in the hand, which has become a matter or heated Trad debate.  It is perfectly valid, and as its defenders will note, was the method often used in the early Church, something Trads typically ignore.

Also in the 80s the Latin Rite in North America reintroduced the reception by the parishioners of the consecrated wine, the Precious Blood, although a Catholic is not obligated to receive both forms.  Most do.

In the Eastern Rite and the Orthodox the consecrated bread and wine are mixed and then served, with a tiny spoon that is turned to provide the reception, on the communicants tongue.

There's no earthly way to do this with individual containers.

Indeed, individual containers will strike members of Apostolic Churches as the oddest thought.  It even suggest that the reception  might be taken home, which the Apostolic Churches strictly forbid except in rare specific circumstances.  

So effectively, the Governor of Wyoming has forbid Communion.

I don't know what religion Governor Gordon is.  He want to an Episcopal boarding school while young, but that may mean less than it at first seems. The assumption that a person going to a denomination's school means they are members is a common one, but its never a completely safe assumption.  He and his first wife were married in a Congregationalist Church, which is a church with substantially different theology than the Episcopal Church.  I don't know if that means that he became a member of that church, or if he's a non defined Protestant, something that's very common these days, or if he was and remains an Episcopalian.  

If he is an Episcopalian, his order certainly creates a problem for the traditional branch of his co-religious.  Maybe that doesn't matter to Gordon, who might figure that safety first dictates this approach.  Or maybe he doesn't grasp the religious nature of the topic the way that Catholics and Orthodox will.  Or maybe he's just signing an order, one of a seemingly endless series these days, that come across his desk addressing a lot of topics in a time of crisis.

In any event, it presents an interesting example of how various Christians don't understand each others faiths, and beyond that, it makes Communion impossible for a body of Christians that takes its Sunday obligation extremely seriously.

Church, Mills Wyoming

This is a church Mills Wyoming.  Other than that it's a church, I'm afraid that I don't know anything else about it.

College Heights Baptist Church/Christ Reformed Church, Casper Wyoming

I'll admit to a lot of confusion on this one regarding what this church currently is.

The church was built as College Heights Baptist Church in 1963, at which time it would have been on the edge of Casper.  Signs on the church still identify it as College Heights Baptist, but signs leading up to it point people towards the large old elementary school nearby, which College Heights bought a decade or more ago. The same signs indicate that this church is now Christ Reformed Church.

Reading between the lines and reading the signs, what I think I take from that, although I'm frankly not certain, is that College Heights Baptist has moved into the very large school and uses it for everything and it is now letting Christ Reformed occupy its old church.  Having said that, I'm not really sure.  Christ Reformed is a member of the branch of the Protestant "Reformed" churches of which the Dutch Reformed are best known in the United States.

Blog Mirror. Catholic Stuff You Should Know: The Sacrifice of the Mass.

An interesting podcast episode of the always interesting Catholic Stuff You Should Know, related to the Coronavirus Pandemic:

THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

Diocese of Cheyenne partial opening up.

Lex Anteinternet: Pandemic:May 5, 2020

I noted the item from the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne above, here's its actual letter:

Statement from Bishop Steven Biegler, Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne 

These past weeks since COVID-19 descended upon us have been difficult, and the suspension of public Masses has been deeply painful. As Governor Gordon lifts restrictions on some businesses, it is natural for Catholics to have a sense of hope that we can return to a somewhat normal parish life. Nonetheless, the need to protect the elderly and those with underlying conditions continues to be a high priority. Keeping in mind that numerous parishioners, as well as many priests, are at-risk for serious health complications if they contracted COVID-19, the Diocese of Cheyenne will continue to suspend public Masses.  

Beginning May 1, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated by appointment using six feet of distance and masks, and the Anointing of the Sick will be celebrated for serious illness or pending surgery.  

The Diocese of Cheyenne is making tentative plans to resume public Masses, Baptisms, Matrimony and funerals for a maximum of ten (10) people on May 15, then on June 1 to expand participation based on the size of the church, while observing six feet of distance between individuals or households. These plans are subject to change.  

Re-opening the churches for public Masses will happen in phases, with health guidelines to follow for the protection of the common good and to minimize the continued spread of COVID-19. The obligatory guidelines include limited attendance, physical distancing and wearing masks. Because there still is a health risk for those who attend any public gathering, the general dispensation from the Sunday obligation will remain in effect.  

As we move forward, we will continue to follow state guidelines and adjust as needed. While we move through incremental steps through the three phases of reopening, I ask for your patience and prayers. Peace in Christ,