A Tale of Two Protests

Vincent J. Curtis

29 June 20

A Roman Catholic community in a small, rural town was getting tired of celebrating their Sunday masses in accordance with government dictates.  Congregants had to give their names and phone numbers to enter the church, they had to wear masks, and they were escorted to the pew they had to sit in.  Tthey were all “socially distanced,” the church was only allowed to be a quarter full, and the celebration had to be modified to suit government orders.  The police would occasionally come by and check to make sure that orders were being enforced.

Then, their little town was subjected to a Black Lives Matter protest.  Antifa was present, the horror of the killing of George Floyd was invoked, and people were taught that they were systemically racist.  What people noticed was that this crowd of protesters did not socially distance, wore masks selectively, more as disguises than for health, and that the police didn’t care.  The protesters were protected by police, and a journalist was escorted away by police when he started questioning the protesters.

So the Catholics decided to hold a protest of their own.  It was announced on the church website.  The protest would occur at church in place of regular Sunday mass.  The church was filled to capacity, no names were taken, and no one wore a mask.  Curious, the police checked on the proceedings.  They walked past signs reading: “BLM”, “Justice for George Floyd!” and “Down with systemic racism!.”

A policeman whispered to an usher, “this looks just like a regular Sunday mass.”

“On, no.” said the usher. “This is our protest.  We’re offering a mass for the repose of the soul of George Floyd, and the priest’s sermon was all about the evils of racism and how much Black Lives Matter.”

Confused, the policeman checked his policy guide.  Sure enough, it said failure to social distance at protests would not be enforced, but regular Sunday masses would be strictly policed and fines imposed.  Since the gathering at church was a protest, and advertised as such, the policeman departed and left the Catholics to protest in their own way in peace.
-30-