Following up on my suggestion of small church services through online signup to get around coronavirus restrictions, a reader suggested outdoor Masses. That got me to thinking of what Irish Catholics did during penal times.
Mass was illegal and persecuted in Ireland from around the 1650s to the 1750s, as the English authorities tried to stamp out Catholicism. All Catholic churches became (Protestant) Church of Ireland churches, and celebrating Mass anywhere was forbidden.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has exempted elective abortions from the statewide ban on elective surgery during the coronavirus precautionary restrictions.
"DPH defines nonessential, elective invasive procedures as procedures that are scheduled in advance because the procedure does not involve a medical emergency; provided, however, that terminating a pregnancy is not considered a nonessential, elective invasive procedure for the purpose of this guidance," the state agency said in a written statement.
