Coronavirus news

[J. Thomas Shelley]

From the local Antiochian Orthodox parish last week:

 Attached is a summary of this year's Holy Week Schedule, beginning with Lazarus Saturday 04/16 thru Pascha (04/24) to Bright Monday (04/25).   Unlike the last two years, there are no limitations or barriers to year's celebration of the Feast of Feasts.  Please review the attached schedule of services.  Mark your calendars!   (Want more information about Orthodox Holy Week Services?  LINK:  https://www.goarch.org/holyweek )

Please note the following: 

    YES - We will process this year for Palm Sunday, Lamenations & Pascha.
    YES - We will gather to prepare the Palms for Palm Sunday Celebration following the Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday (04/16)
    YES - Fr Peter & Fr. David will hear confessions on Saturday morning following the Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday (04/16)
    YES - PICTURE SUNDAY - Palm Sunday - 04/17
    YES - There is a covered dish luncheon on Palm Sunday (04/17) - Fish/Wine/Oil permitted ! 
    YES - Tuesday 04/19 is the last day Fr. Peter & Fr. David will hear confessions.
    YES - There will be a Foot-Washing Service on the morning of Holy Thursday (04/21)
    YES - We will gather together to dye eggs for Pascha on following the Holy Thursday Morning (04/21) Vesperal Divine Liturgy & and YES - We will have eggs available for our young people to dye as well ! 
    YES -  There will be an All-Night VIGIL on the evening of Holy Thursday (04/22). 
    YES -  There will be covered dish gathering between the Holy Friday (04/22) afternoon Vespers Service and the evening Lamentations service .
    YES - The Teens will hold their All- Night Vigil & Retreat on Holy Friday (04/22)
    YES - We will gather to break the fast following the PASCHAL Services & Fr Peter & Fr David will bless our Paschal Baskets !
    YES - There will be a covered dish gathering following the AGAPE Vespers on Sunday 04/24.
    YES - There will be a BRIGHT Monday Celebration & Church Clean Up....  with a Grilled Luncheon (Steak & Chicken) following the morning effort

[Michael Slusser]

From the local Antiochian Orthodox parish last week:

 Attached is a summary of this year's Holy Week Schedule, beginning with Lazarus Saturday 04/16 thru Pascha (04/24) to Bright Monday (04/25).   Unlike the last two years, there are no limitations or barriers to year's celebration of the Feast of Feasts.  Please review the attached schedule of services.  Mark your calendars!   (Want more information about Orthodox Holy Week Services?  LINK:  https://www.goarch.org/holyweek )

Please note the following: 

    YES - We will process this year for Palm Sunday, Lamenations & Pascha.
    YES - We will gather to prepare the Palms for Palm Sunday Celebration following the Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday (04/16)
    YES - Fr Peter & Fr. David will hear confessions on Saturday morning following the Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday (04/16)
    YES - PICTURE SUNDAY - Palm Sunday - 04/17
    YES - There is a covered dish luncheon on Palm Sunday (04/17) - Fish/Wine/Oil permitted ! 
    YES - Tuesday 04/19 is the last day Fr. Peter & Fr. David will hear confessions.
    YES - There will be a Foot-Washing Service on the morning of Holy Thursday (04/21)
    YES - We will gather together to dye eggs for Pascha on following the Holy Thursday Morning (04/21) Vesperal Divine Liturgy & and YES - We will have eggs available for our young people to dye as well ! 
    YES -  There will be an All-Night VIGIL on the evening of Holy Thursday (04/22). 
    YES -  There will be covered dish gathering between the Holy Friday (04/22) afternoon Vespers Service and the evening Lamentations service .
    YES - The Teens will hold their All- Night Vigil & Retreat on Holy Friday (04/22)
    YES - We will gather to break the fast following the PASCHAL Services & Fr Peter & Fr David will bless our Paschal Baskets !
    YES - There will be a covered dish gathering following the AGAPE Vespers on Sunday 04/24.
    YES - There will be a BRIGHT Monday Celebration & Church Clean Up....  with a Grilled Luncheon (Steak & Chicken) following the morning effort

Crowded schedule--needing every available deacon! May you all experience much joy in the mysteries.

Peace,
Michael

[Dan Fienen]

Policy concerning our management is supposed to be set according to the science for which the CDC is to be our first authority, right? According to the CDC we should not relax the mask mandates on public transportation because Covid is still too much of a threat. The extra precautions are still necessary. A Federal judge has struck down those mandates because he ruled that the CDC exceeded its authority in imposing the mask mandates. The Biden administration and DOJ is appealing the ruling.


On the other hand. the Biden administration is ending Title 42 that limited immigration because of the threat of Covid spread by immigrants. Does science tell us that unmasked airline passengers pose an unacceptable threat of Covid spread, but untested immigrants no longer pose such a threat? What does the CDC have to say about that, or have they been consulted?


And by the by, just about every news story about the transit mask mandate mentions that the Federal judge who struck down the mask mandate was appointed by Pres. Trump. Why is that significant? Does judges have varying authority depending on who appointed them? I thought that they all had to be approved by the Senate.

[Charles Austin]

Pastor Fienen:
Policy concerning our management is supposed to be set according to the science for which the CDC is to be our first authority, right? According to the CDC we should not relax the mask mandates on public transportation because Covid is still too much of a threat. The extra precautions are still necessary. A Federal judge has struck down those mandates because he ruled that the CDC exceeded its authority in imposing the mask mandates. The Biden administration and DOJ is appealing the ruling.

I comment:
the federal judge is a woman.

Pastor Fienen:
And by the by, just about every news story about the transit mask mandate mentions that the Federal judge who struck down the mask mandate was appointed by Pres. Trump. Why is that significant?
Me:
It is significant because at her nomination, the American Bar Association said she did not have enough experience to be a federal judge. Since becoming a lawyer, she has not tried a case, civil or criminal, as lead or co-counsel. She had some federal clerkships, spent 10 months at a law firm and three years as a government lawyer.

Pastor Fienen:
Does judges have varying authority depending on who appointed them? I thought that they all had to be approved by the Senate.
Me:
She was confirmed by a vote of 49-41. It is not a question of "authority," but a matter of her general competence as a judge, an indicator of whether her ruling could stand or be easily overturned. BTW, stories about this also noted that judges appointed by Democrats have at times used the same reasoning as she did in their rulings, although it is relatively rare that a district judge acts so broadly.

[Richard Johnson]

And by the by, just about every news story about the transit mask mandate mentions that the Federal judge who struck down the mask mandate was appointed by Pres. Trump.

I read a lot of news, and it was two days after the ruling before I saw a story that mentioned she had been appointed by Trump. I guess I should have been watching Fox.

[J. Thomas Shelley]

And by the by, just about every news story about the transit mask mandate mentions that the Federal judge who struck down the mask mandate was appointed by Pres. Trump.

I read a lot of news, and it was two days after the ruling before I saw a story that mentioned she had been appointed by Trump. I guess I should have been watching Fox.

Not only was she appointed by President Trump, horror of horrors, she clerked under Justice Clarence Thomas.

(sarcasm)

[Jim Butler]

It is significant because at her nomination, the American Bar Association said she did not have enough experience to be a federal judge. Since becoming a lawyer, she has not tried a case, civil or criminal, as lead or co-counsel. She had some federal clerkships, spent 10 months at a law firm and three years as a government lawyer.

Charles, you might want to read the following to get a better understanding of the judge. You will discover, for instance, that she has tried cases on behalf of the government, including prosecuting "the largest sex-trafficking case in the history of the Eastern District of Virginia."

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/meet-kathryn-kimball-mizelle-the-judge-who-overturned-the-transportation-mask-mandate/

She was confirmed by a vote of 49-41. It is not a question of "authority," but a matter of her general competence as a judge, an indicator of whether her ruling could stand or be easily overturned.

I spent some time reading through her ruling. I'm not sure I agree with her interpretation of the statute at hand. However, she is correct when she says that the Biden Administration did not follow proper APA procedures and, according to SCOTUS when Trump tried to rescind DACA, that's enough.

BTW, stories about this also noted that judges appointed by Democrats have at times used the same reasoning as she did in their rulings, although it is relatively rare that a district judge acts so broadly.

I'm not sure what they mean by "reasoning." While I'm not sure that I disagree with her view of the regulation at hand, I will give her credit for going through it in meticulous detail and spelling out her reasoning.

However, I can think of many times when district judges struck down Trump administration regulations on a nationwide basis--many of them were in Hawaii and San Francisco.

This brings us the related matter of how much authority a district judge should have. While I think she is right in that the Biden Admin violated the APA in making this regulation, I'm not sure I think a lower court judge should be able to strike it down nationwide. OTOH, I'm not sure if its feasible for the regulation to be in effect in some places or for some people when dealing with a nationwide industry. She deals with that issue in her ruling.

While the Biden Administration is going to appeal the ruling, the fact that it is not asking for a stay of the ruling and that the President has said that he thinks masking should be up to the people it's more a matter of principle than the actual regulation.

You might also be interested in this artlcle: https://www.city-journal.org/the-failed-covid-policy-of-mask-mandates

The graphs are interesting. There was almost no difference between the 11 states without mask mandates and the 39 that had them.

[Charles Austin]

Thank you, Jim Butler, for that analysis. There is useful and interesting information in those citations.

[James S. Rustad]

Dr. Fauci appears to believe that the CDC is above the law.  And is that a royal "we"?

Anthony Fauci is "surprised and disappointed" with this week's federal court ruling that overturned the mask mandate on planes, trains, and public transportation.

That's not because the president's chief medical advisor disagrees with the substance of Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle's ruling. No: Fauci thinks the problem is that the courts have any power over public health edicts at all.

"Those types of things really are the purview of the [Centers for Disease Control]. This is a public health issue," Fauci told CNN's Kasie Hunt on Thursday. "We are concerned about that—about courts getting involved in things that are unequivocally public health decisions. I mean, this is a CDC issue; it should not be a court issue."

[Charles Austin]

Many think that the interpretation of law here concerning the CDC is wrong. So it is not that we think the CDC is above the law; but that the interpretation of the law here is misused. Other courts will have to decide who is right.

[peter_speckhard]

Many think that the interpretation of law here concerning the CDC is wrong. So it is not that we think the CDC is above the law; but that the interpretation of the law here is misused. Other courts will have to decide who is right.

No, I think Fauci is calling for an insurrection and wants to overthrow our system of government. After all, he is saying that a duly enacted process came to a wrong conclusion.

[J. Thomas Shelley]

Holy Saturday and Pascha looked and felt like 2019.

No distancing.  Liturgy books restored to the pew racks.  Almost no masks.

Full choir for Holy Saturday (Friday evening) Lamentations and for the Pascha Divine Liturgy.

Long lines for Communion, served the Orthodox way from the Chalice on a common spoon...only the third time for me to serve in that manner as a Deacon.

Now everything, heaven and the earth
and the nethermost regions, have all been filled with light.
Let the entire creation, therefore, celebrate the rising of Christ.
For it is established in Him.


Stichera of the Third Ode of the Paschal Canon

[Charles Austin]

Time will tell whether we who are “out” and rejoicing are liberated, blessed, statistically significant, in need of remediation … … … or lucky.

[John_Hannah]

The "anti-mask" crowd is not as destructive as the "anti-vacc."

Few, if any, of them will agree to major surgery unless the entire surgery team is masked.

They are entitled to their politics but this is out of their lane.

Peace, JOHN

[Dave Benke]

We receive folks who are vacc-immune, so to speak, in Universal Pre-K.   The vaccine mandates for kids are very thoroughgoing, and some parents are not interested in having their child go through the whole regimen at age 3 or 4.  There are also physicians who advise against some of the vaccines before say age 5, and yet  NYC Dept. of Health says the child must be vaccinated by 3 or 4.  Our commentary then as a provider is less about the education of the child than it is about what's healthy for the child.  Tough choices and we've had prospective students stay away for that reason. 

Dave Benke