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May 22, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – On May 21, young Catholics in Australia published a new video in which they ask Church and state authorities to “please bring back Holy Mass for all.” 

The reason for this initiative is that, in spite of general easing of restrictions, public Masses in Australia are still being kept either forbidden or strongly restricted. As one youth says, in South Australia, “where there are no active cases of coronavirus, public Masses remain suspended.”

The new video with some 20 young Catholics asking for the return of Mass was organized by a young Catholic Australian named John. He told LifeSiteNews that he was inspired by similar videos from young people in Austria, across Europe, and the U.S. He thought “we had to speak up as well.”

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, youth made numerous videos at the end of April of this year, asking that the Holy Mass be given back to them in their respective countries and offering their practical help to assist with the opening of the churches.

This new video points out clear injustices with regard to new rules coming in. As one young Catholic says in the video, “last week, New South Wales and Victoria began to reopen churches with a capacity limit of 10 worshippers including in cathedrals built to hold thousands, and many churches remain closed due to fear of the virus.” Another young Catholic informs us that in Brisbane, “where cafes are allowed to host up to 10 customers, public Masses remain suspended.”

One young man reminds the audience that, while “essentials have remained available throughout this virus,” the churches were closed. “What could be more essential for us Catholics than the Holy Mass?” he asks.

“Please bring back the Holy Mass for all,” these young Catholics conclude.

John, the organizer of the video, told LifeSiteNews that he was touched by the earlier videos made by young Catholics throughout the world. They “really capture the feelings of young Catholics at this extraordinary situation where the vast majority of Mass goers are being separated from Our Lord, for no justifiable reason.” He went on to say that it was very easy for him to find collaborators among Catholics in his country – from across Catholic university student circles in Australia, with participants from most of the different states in Australia – in order to make this new video.

He especially pointed to the situation in the state of South Australia “where they do not have a single active case of coronavirus yet all public Masses remain suspended.” 

“Brisbane, our third largest city,” he continued, “also has no public Masses, despite the familiar story of department stores and cafes being deemed safe to welcome thousands.”

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, just stated in an interview with EWTN's Raymond Arroyo that there is a danger of the virus being used in an anti-Catholic way by dictatorial states and “some other ideological groups.”

“We have to speak against the instrumentalization of this virus, of this global crisis” by dictatorial states and “some other ideological groups” who wish to “suppress the Church” and promote the “break down of the sacramental life of the Church,” he said. He added that the state cannot forbid the Church to worship God.

“It is absolutely contradictory to open the supermarkets and other assemblies and to close the Church,” the German prelate explained. He pointed out that the Supreme Court of France just told the state that in a sense of proportion and when other institutions are being opened, the churches, too, “must be opened.” The French Council of State – a governmental body that plays the role of a legal advisor to the state and Supreme Court in administrative matters – had ruled that the state needed to open the churches again, due to the specific rights attached to the “fundamental liberty” of public worship.

It is to be hoped that the Australian authorities listen to the voices of young Catholics, as well as to those of other authorities in the world which are attentive to matters of justice.

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Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany, after having written in Switzerland her doctoral dissertation on the history of Swiss intellectuals before and during World War II. She now lives in the U.S. and is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits.

Dr. Hickson published in 2014 a Festschrift, a collection of some thirty essays written by thoughtful authors in honor of her husband upon his 70th birthday, which is entitled A Catholic Witness in Our Time.

Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany, and she has been writing articles on religion and politics for U.S. and European publications and websites such as LifeSiteNews, OnePeterFive, The Wanderer, Rorate Caeli, Catholicism.org, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Notizie Pro-Vita, Corrispondenza Romana, Katholisches.info, Der Dreizehnte,  Zeit-Fragen, and Westfalen-Blatt.