A Leaven In The World… COVID “Delusional Psychosis” Undermines Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK

The reactions to COVID-19 affect our lives perhaps more than any other factor today, including faith. The facts about COVID have helped us. The false and misleading information has had devastating results for human life.
And eternal life.
Mark Tapscott wrote an article in the Epoch Times entitled, “Americans are Suffering ‘Delusional Psychosis’ About CCP Virus, Psychiatrist Claims”:
“So much misinformation and exaggeration about the lethality of the CCP virus — also known as the novel coronavirus — has been broadcast by government officials and the media that many Americans are suffering from a ‘delusional psychosis,’ according to Los Angeles child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Mark McDonald.”
McDonald describes the psychosis as a condition in which the person becomes “impervious to rational thinking.”
Faith always goes together with reason, grace builds upon nature. The freedom with which our Creator has endowed us must always cooperate with grace for the sake of our salvation.
Perhaps for many faith itself has been lost along with the use of the reason upon which it must build. Since March, one in three Catholics has not been to Mass. When fear of getting sick results in avoiding the means of eternal salvation for the better part of a year, a correction may be needed.
If the danger is real, certainly caution is warranted. If information is exaggerated, however, we are not thinking and acting rationally, as McDonald warns.
What are the facts?
One irrational factor which McDonald points out is the loss of perspective which claims the possibility of saving one life justifies the upending of whole societies:
“‘Well, first, I think the keyword here is perspective,’ McDonald said. ‘When New York Mayor Bill de Blasio started to shut down New York City, close restaurants, bars, schools, basically put everybody in a state of house arrest, he said, “If these policies that I am enacting save one life, it will be worth it”.’
“ ‘That is idiocy. We do not ever make public health policy based on saving one life. We look at perspective, we look at cost, we look at assets’.”
McDonald recommends taking a close look at the facts on COVID deaths to get a true perspective of the dangers involved.
“McDonald said federal data on CCP virus deaths ‘are highly suspect’ because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged that ‘94 percent of the deaths had an average of three co-morbidities, meaning they were probably going to die within the next 6 to 12 months anyway.’ The 94 percent figure refers to coronavirus death cases, in which the official certificate of death named the disease.
“McDonald said more than half of those who died were 80 years old or older, while the average life expectancy, based on all causes of death, in the United States is currently 79 years.
“ ‘So, if half of the people who have died purportedly of coronavirus are over the age of 80 and they had three or more co-morbidities, that speaks to the fact those people died with it rather than of it,’ he said.”
Dying “with it”: We all die. Of something. Or with something. Upending our lives, shutting down the practice of our faith because of something most of us will die with, not of, makes no sense.
Also alarming for pastors is how people of faith have neglected to seek the sacraments even at home during this time, afraid as they are of any human contact at all.
Which news sources we use will affect which scientific data we are getting. Or not getting. Which legacy media will report any information contrary to the narratives they have pushed which supports trends upon which they have built viewership numbers? The truth about human nature will answer that question.
“McDonald also pointed to a recent lecture by a Johns Hopkins University economist who, based on CDC data, suggested total deaths due to all causes in the United States for 2020, compared to the previous eight years, don’t reflect a massive increase attributable to the disease.”
Johns Hopkins is certainly a reputable scientific and medical institution. Did you hear this information on national nightly news? Unlikely. All of us must seek more than one source of news and information if we wish to have all the facts today.
We get death numbers daily for COVID, lately reported to be smashing all previous records. But that’s all we’re told. The narrative continues on trend without all the facts behind the statistics which would allow us to make the decision as to whether we agree with the conclusions.
The situation is more akin to “news” by Pravda, a socialist rag that altered reality to ensure better social conformity with the agenda of the Communist Party in the old USSR.
Gov. “Emmy Award” Cuomo caused the end of many lives in nursing homes because of his earlier order sending COVID patients back into them. He continues to alter reality for millions of lives based on fear, not facts, destroying lives of faith along with other aspects of human existence. Governors and mayors do not have authority from God to rule over our lives of faith and worship. That authority belongs to the Lord alone.
Bishop Liam Cary of Baker, Ore., as reported by Gloria TV, has stated that priests should not wear masks when offering Holy Mass because they are a “counter-sign.”
“The state has no authority to tell the Church how to celebrate divine worship,” Bishop Cary wrote on August 28 in a still relevant statement.
“The Church establishes the manner of its worship ‘without having to render an account to Caesar.’ Cary underlines that ‘physical hygiene is not the only consideration,’ arguing against masked priests, which creates a serious symbolic confusion.
“‘Covering the face of the celebrant goes directly against the oft-repeated scriptural cry of the heart to God: Hide not your face from me. Show me your face.’ For Cary, a masked priest is ‘a detrimental counter-sign’ of division and danger.
“He concludes that priests ‘may not wear masks’ while celebrating Mass and the ordinary reception of Communion on the tongue may not be denied.”
Now, there’s a bishop who knows how to bishop. He offers a voice of reason and faith to counteract the societal psychosis.
This Advent many churches will participate once again in “The Light is On For You,” with an emphasis on keeping our churches open for extended hours to offer Confession and Eucharistic adoration in preparation for our celebration of the Lord’s birth at Christmas.
A sure antidote to diminished use of reason is the strengthening of our faith. The One in whom we trust and believe as Lord and God, as we draw close to Him in prayer and sacramental life, will also heal and strengthen the gift of reason upon which our faith must always build for the salvation of the entire human person: body and mind as well as soul.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Continue the conversation on Parler, the new free speech social network, where you’ll find me @FatherKevinMCusick