I sent the below email out to many people the other day, yourself included. I have been told by someone that it was arrogant, hateful, and self righteous. I certainly don’t want to put out things like that. I thought I was sending out true information. As always, I deeply value your judgment. Do you feel that it was inappropriate for me to send this email out to people? I sent it out to about 100 people mostly lay but some clergy. Your opinion and advice would be greatly appreciated.
In Christ,
John Stevens
Please forgive my tone for I am very worked up at the moment.        This hysterical over-reaction to what is essentially a variation of the cold virus makes me think I somehow have entered into Alice’s “Wonderland”. I cannot believe what I am hearing from otherwise sane people. I somewhat expect this from the secular powers that be but the Catholic Church (the Church founded by Jesus Christ) seems to have also lost Her collective mind and SOUL.       Our physical health is important and we rely upon doctors and hospitals to help those who are truly ailing. In most cases we can keep our bodies perfectly healthy by giving it the right nutrition, good sleep, and exercise. Our spiritual health and eternal salvation is infinitely more important than our physical health and we rely upon our bishops and priests for the spiritual care we need. We need the Mass and the Sacraments now more than ever. Unfortunately, our spiritual leaders seem to have succumbed to the virus and allowed their brains to be anesthetized. In ever increasing places Mass is being cancelled, people are being encouraged to stay home, Communion on the tongue is being discouraged or prevented, and access to the Sacraments is being denied in some places. Wow! With that kind of spiritual care from our Shepherds, Satan could afford to take a vacation and rest to prepare himself for the final battle. God’s ministers are doing a lot of heavy lifting for him.       No one has ever had an obligation to go to Mass if they are sick or have a compromised immune system. This truth is being driven home to everyone with the added lie by Satan, “No need to attend Mass if you are worried about the corona virus.” This, in my opinion, is not a valid reason for missing Mass. With all the mass hysteria being generated by the media everyone is worried about the corona virus. Might as well have everyone stay home from Mass. As a matter of fact, some bishops have done just that.       In the places that still have Mass, attendance has dropped off precipitously. There were far fewer people at the Vigil Mass at St. Edward’s in Spring, TX last night than I have ever seen since I first attended Mass there in June, 1976. My sister told me that Mass was empty at the Mass she attended at St. Anthony of Padua in The Woodlands. Surely not all the absentees are sick or immune compromised. They are just taking advantage of the invitation to stay home. Many of them will enjoy this opportunity so much that they will never bother to return. I think it will be years before our parishes recover from this disaster. I am sure Satan is very sad about these turn of events.       Now I am being told that I should receive Holy Communion in the hand, all in the interest of protecting the old and sick people and the scaredy-cat priests, deacons, and EMHCs who are worried about germs. Well, I am definitely one of the old people although I am not sick. Everyone who knows me, knows that I would take a bullet to my brain today before I would ever take Communion in the hand. Ain’t happening, no way, not ever! Either Our Lady or Jesus Himself would have to personally appear to me and mandate that I receive Communion in the hand before I would do so. Given that Communion in the hand was introduced into the Church through the disobedience of dissident Cardinals, I do not believe that Heaven will be so instructing me anytime soon.       Speaking of the spreading of germs – Communion on the tongue is no more dangerous than reception of Communion in the hand, probably less so. I was following a thread on NEXTDOOR recently about concerns regarding the corona virus. One woman complained that she was in the restroom at HEB grocery store and a woman came out of one of the stalls after using it and left to shop without washing her hands. Another woman chimed in that she had been to another HEB and noticed the same thing. It occurred to me that if some women are not washing their hands after going to the bathroom imagine how many men are doing the same thing. Men tend to be the slobs. Now some of these people go to Church. How many men and women have used the bathrooms at Church, entered Mass without washing their hands, and proceeded up to receive Holy Communion in the hand? Now I don’t know what germs may exist on my tongue but I can assure you that they are a lot less dangerous than the germs on the hands of those people  who don’t wash their hands after wiping themselves.Besides saliva acts like a kind of hand sanitizer in killing germs.Saliva keeps the ecosystem of the mouth in balance. It contains its own bacterial enzymes that are beneficial to our health. An example of these are lysozomes. These antibacterial agents in saliva kill bacteria in our mouths and protect from potentially dangerous diseases.       I have never administered Holy Communion to anyone so I don’t consider myself an expert on this. However, some priests have said that, if Holy Communion is administered properly, then the fingers of the priest, deacon, or EMHC should never touch either the tongue or the hand of the communicant. In all my life I cannot recall a single occasion where the fingers of the priest touched my tongue. I can’t guarantee it never happened but I don’t recall it ever having happened.       I believe that many priests are naive but genuinely concerned about the well being of their parishioners. However, I believe that some members of the hierarchy are impostors masquerading as Shepherds who see this as an opportunity to drive a further stake into the Church and the Eucharist.       A woman neighbor of mine who is a United Methodist mentioned that their congregation was nearly empty today as well. She said that her minister commented in his homily how interesting it is to see that all the Kroger and HEB parking lots are jam packed on Sunday morning while the Church parking lots are empty. Hell, this is an emergency, we need toilet paper and hand sanitizer, not GOD!!!       Michael Matt has suggested that we may be at the cusp of the long overdue chastisement that we know is coming. Perhaps he is right. One thing is for certain. Satan has been at war with the Church for a long time. He was officially invited in to the Church in the summer of 1957 and it has been down hill ever since. During this time the anti-church has hidden behind the curtain and tried to pass itself off as the true Church of Jesus Christ. During this time the Catholic Church has grown weaker and weaker while the anti-church has grown stronger and stronger. In the past 7 years the anti-church has grown so strong that she no longer hides behind the curtain. She is out in the open seeking to merge the structure of the Catholic Church with the one world religion. This should be obvious for all true Catholics to see. The (True) Church is well into Her Passion and will proceed to Her apparent death and resurrection more resplendent than ever before just like Her Founder.       Anne Catherine Emmerich in her visions talked at length about the two popes, the rise of the anti-church and the suppression of the True Church, and Mary’s ultimate victory. Pope John Paul II as Cardinal Wojtyla in Philadelphia in 1976 talked about the very near coming final battle between the Church and the anti-church. Lastly Fr. Linus Clovis brilliantly discusses the rise of the anti-church. Meanwhile, the pope and some prelates have a service for Pachamama in the Vatican. (You can’t make this stuff up!)
It is my opinion that you can tell where the anti-church is strongest by where the Mass is temporarily suppressed, Communion on the tongue is temporarily  suppressed, and the Sacraments like Penance, Matrimony, Extreme Unction (Annointing of the Sick), etc. are temporarily suppressed  all in the interests of protecting the elderly and the sick from this cold virus. The world cares little about the elderly or the sick but feigns interest to use it as a means to deny the Mass and sacraments. This is the politically correct thing to do and those Shepherds who are politically correct will not fail to deliver to Caesar (the flock be damned).
Wonderful Catholic writer, Solange Hertz, once commented on Satan’s effort to destroy the Eucharist. He loves sacrilege of the Eucharist, but in order to have sacrilege you must have the Eucharist. She felt that Satan must be torn between his desire to destroy Christ in the Eucharist and his lust for sacrilege of the Eucharist. Sacrilege takes place in virtually every Catholic parish every week. From the masses of people who receive while in a state of mortal sin, to the removal of patens allowing particles of the Sacred Host to fall on the floor, to having everyone but the janitor handing out Communion, Sunday Mass is a smorgasbord of sacrilege.With all the particles of the hosts falling to the floor of nearly every parish I heard someone comment that the Church vacuum cleaner has become a de-facto Tabernacle in many Catholic Churches. This is tragic but it occurs every week and our clergy do absolutely nothing about it. How do they plan to explain that on their day of Judgment?
NOT SURE HOW MANY FRIENDS I HAVE LOST OVER THIS BUT THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH AND IT NEEDS TO BE SPOKEN!
For friends in the clergy who may feel hurt by what I say, remember that true friends tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.