I received a call two weeks ago from the local nursing home, informing me, the priest who regularly ministers to their Catholic residents, that I would not be allowed to come until further notice, because of the coronavirus. I was shocked and thought how unjust this is to all the Catholic residents and staff there. They have a right to the sacraments and to the spiritual assistance of Christ in the person of the priest.
The government is treating the activities of the Church with the sick as some dispensable social visit. The priest administering the sacraments is more essential to a nursing home or a hospital than all the doctors, nurses and other staff. The sick and especially the dying need a priest more than they need anyone else. They cannot be forbidden! Shame on them for even thinking of blocking our ministry, and shame on us for letting them think we are going to stand idly by and let it happen. The priest has a serious obligation to assist the sick and the dying. He must do it!, thus he must be allowed to do it, in every circumstance, especially the most dire.
The priest is a professional health care worker, not an ordinary visitor. He comes in the person of Christ, to forgive people's sins and to heal them, and to usher the dying into eternal life in the state of holiness. He helps people make peace with God.