Mandating Masking Madness, and Vaccines While We’re At It
Mask Mania, militaristically mandated, continues, almost unabated, the talisman of the age, the sign of do-gooder-ism – no, not a pro-life t-shirt, or even any of those AIDS and other causes-ribbons that were the vogue up until not that long ago. No, it’s masking up. We should be thankful that here in Canada we have not reached the masking-fever of France, Australia and various parts of the U.S. where one is bound to cover one’s nose and mouth semper et ubique, always, everywhere, outside, wandering around, one may presume even paragliding, mountain climbing – the police are watching, with drones, and they will enforce this decree, as evinced in Australia by car windows being smashed open to make the occupants comply, or the video of a woman being choked by a burly male officer for being mask-less. If the virus doesn’t get you, a copper might. Ironic, since she had a ‘medical exemption’ for finding it difficult to breathe with a mask, as does everyone. Doubly ironic, since the police elsewhere – say, Chicago – stand idly by as vast swathes of downtowns get looted and burn.
Triply ironic since, as I alluded recently, the evidence is that masks are not all that effective, to put it mildly. Whether they do anything in protecting others is certainly a question, which is the mantra used in donning one, even if one is minded to take one’s own risks? Peruse this summary, and the scientific studies in the footnotes. We should decide and operate with reason and evidence, balancing what risk there is with our God-given rights, not with our feelings, or our gut, or with what everyone else is doing, or even what we’re told to do by state apparatchiks. After all, a scant few months ago, we were told masks were useless, then ‘wear one if you want to’, now to a universal masking mandatum. This is at least odd, for no science moves that fast.
Even the Church – or, at least, certain churches – now seems fully on board. One diocese has issued the following prayer for putting on one’s mask – I let out a slightly unintended off-colour euphemism when I first saw this, not believing my eyes, for it signifies an edge that one has toppled over:
Priests used to say a prayer for each liturgical item they donned – their alb, their cincture, stole, and so on, all signifying some virtue or aspect of the priesthood – but a mask as a quasi-liturgical vestment? And, more than that, described as an ‘outward sign of an invisible grace‘, the very Thomistic definition of a sacrament. After that, what’s left?
When will Mask Mania end, you ask? Well, as I mentioned to someone the other day, there is no ‘principle’ for this ever ending. After all, if we accept the premise that we must take all precautions against making someone sick, with our breath, in this case, then what is to ever put an end to the madness? And what of passing along sickness with our hands, or with any degree of ‘close contact’ – two metres apart! Why would that ever end?
With a vaccine, you say? I believe these medical interventions have their place – the world would be a very different place without them – but how effective will this be in the current Covidian case, given the ‘effectiveness’ of the current flu vaccines, which are a crapshoot. And we may want to think twice or three times before injecting a hurriedly-concocted Chinese concoction, which may have a strange mode of operation in altering our very genetic code. I’m not sure if this will actually be how this things works, but who’s to say? Plus, if this thing is derived from aborted baby parts, what degree of formal cooperation is at play?
And they’re already talking about punishments for those who refuse. Banishment from schools, from hospitals, from stores – Hmm.
My own view is that we should hold primarily a spiritual view on this. I don’t mean to be callous, but who knows if God didn’t send ‘Covid’ to take the advanced elderly on the brink of eternity to himself, before Trudeau and his assassin physicians could euthanize them, and commit a myriad of mortal sins.
We should protect life with due prudence, adopting what precautions we should amongst the most and truly vulnerable, and otherwise, get on with life, take what God sends, and hope for the best under the mantle of His Mother.
He knows what He is about, and will bring this to what conclusion He wills. Just wait and see.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→