Father Gary Ziuraitis called police when he spotted a woman, mother of 11 children, who privately prayed with some members of her family in Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kansas City, Missouri.
The mother told RestoringTheMedia (November 3, below) that although the church was empty, the key-holder yelled at them for not wearing masks.
Ziuraitis - who was himself unmasked - approached the group demanding them to either leave the church or to mask themselves, but they refused.
An angry Ziuraitis then called police who noticed that enforcing masks was not their task. However, at the priest’s request they asked the family to leave.
The mother says that for six weeks no Kansas City store asked her to put on a mask.
@Tesa I'm not fan of Francis, but truth and justice require we give credit for all this where it's due. ;-) Pope Francis is merely the current temporal head of the Church. The Church is not -his- or any Pope's. The Roman Catholic Church belongs to God. These kinds of awful requirements are coming down from bishops, who have chosen to collaborate with secular government. The Pope hasn't issued any mandate that all churches must secular governments regarding Covid.. In this case, it was a parish priest who zealously enforced the requirements, not the bishop or the Pope. Frankly, the woman should be grateful the church was even open for prayer. Women in particular have oodles of options for complying with the letter of a "mask law" while making a mockery of it.
The pope has a lot to say about masks - see a recent GTV article. Masks have become an opportunity for symbolic resistance to some and a weapon of control for others.
@Cuthbert Mayne Has Pope Francis or the Vatican imposed any mask requirements on the Church? If yes, please link the Vatican site's announcement. If no, then Pope Francis can opine as he pleases and we, the laity, are just as free to ignore it. As I've told others elsewhere, Pope Francis' (frequently foolish) opinions are not canonically binding. If you're referring to this recent article, his actions speak louder than words.
Perhaps without a mask she was unclean for him or sth like that. In some abrahamic religions there are special policies for women: "no mask - no service", etc.
Correction: Mother Refuses To Mask, Mother Refuses To Leave -THEN- Priest Calls The Police. Yes, some "key-holder" sacristans enjoy their petty exercises of power. Nothing unique about that. Those in charge of a venue DO have the legal authority to ask people to comply with the venue's clothing requirements. "No Shoes No Shirt, No Service" is the classic. If people refuse to wear what is required AND they refuse to leave when asked to, then the police get called. "The mother says that for six weeks no Kansas City store asked her to put on a mask." ...and the mother just caught herself in a lie. Stupid, obstinate people often do this when telling "their side". Trying to legitimize their refusal to either mask or leave, they fabricate a claim that -this- venue is unique and therefore unreasonable. Fact Check: Kansas City has had a mask mandate in place since June 27. It was extended in August into January 2021. "Under the order, all employees or visitors to any place of public accommodation must wear face coverings." Stores, fearful of being shut down, are understandably enforcing this policy whether they like it or not. And this woman claims no store has asked her to wear a maks for the past six weeks? :P Simply put, the mother is a bad liar. Stupid, obstinate people typically are. I don't personally like the "mask" requirements, but I dislike people trying to scam everone with their falsehoods even more.
From what I read in the GTV article... there won't be a trial @Salmo143 The article didn't mention any arrests. Presumably there weren't any because the woman and her group complied with police orders to leave. What she's doing now is also a hallmark of stupid, obstinate people: she didn't get her way so she's trying to get someone into trouble (the priest). I've seen something similar often enough with stupid and obstinate people on GTV. When factually corrected and unable to refute that correction, their next approach is to claim they're being bullied and screaming for GTV's administration to ban me. I don't like these mask restrictions, though I'm having a ton of fun making the best of a bad situation by freaking everyone out with creative compliance. The woman is in the legal -and- moral wrong. Every venue has the right to set clothing restrictions so long as they're applied evenly without any unfair discrimination. This is nothing new. Fancy restaurants can require men to wear suitcoats and ties. Nightclubs have been doing the same for ages on "theme" nights. The nightclub's event calender is usually very clear about it. If the theme that night is "goth" or "rave", patrons can and will be expected to conform to that night's dress code. Even churches have the right to enforce modesty/ and decorum rules.