The following is excerpted from Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s March 25, 2020 interview with Mark Zimmermann, editor of the Catholic Standard newspaper and website of the Archdiocese of Washington, and Rafael Roncal, editor of the archdiocese's Spanish language publication El Pregonero. During the interview about the first anniversary of his being named as the new archbishop of Washington by Pope Francis on April 4, 2019, Archbishop Gregory discussed the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the Archdiocese of Washington.
Mark Zimmermann: “The shutdown of public Masses and the closing of Catholic schools due to precautions against the spread of the coronavirus have impacted the lives of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington. How has the coronavirus shutdown impacted your life and work?”
Archbishop Gregory: “The limitations on being physically present to my people is a real difficult experience for me. Obviously, I’m trying to follow as carefully as I can the recommendations from our government and health care officials, but it basically means I’m a captive in my home. I can get out a little bit for short periods of time, to do things like go to the grocery store, drop something off at the post office. But that’s not the way I’d like to or thought about being a bishop or a priest.”
Mark Zimmermann: “How have you found Christ’s peace in this unsettling time?”
Archbishop Gregory: “Well, it’s given me a lot of time for prayer, a lot more time for prayer. In some respects I feel like I’m under house arrest. Fortunately, I have a nice chapel here at my residence, and I can spend some leisurely hours, leisurely time, with the Lord, and that’s a good thing, because it allows me both to hopefully deepen my prayer life, but also gives me the opportunity of praying for my people, even though I can’t be with them physically.”
Rafael Roncal: “In America usually, people volunteer to help each other, in this context, (groups like) Catholic Charities are asking for donations of food and for people to volunteer to help in this crisis. Do you think we will mobilize our people in this way to help, asking for volunteers, to continue in this American way of helping each other?”
Archbishop Gregory: “Oh I think, without a doubt what this crisis has done, is help bring to the fore both the generosity and selfless spirit of our people, but also the creative spirit, as people are saying, ‘I can contribute financially to Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul or some social outreach program, but I’d also like to figure out how I might do something that might involve my participation, in such a way that I’m not raising the risk of harming myself or harming others.’
“But I also would like to see our people encounter to the best of their ability the people who are alone, the elderly who live alone, the sick, the poor people that basically depend upon the charity of others to even survive. And I know that many different programs are trying to figure out ways to do that beyond just giving a financial contribution.”
Mark Zimmermann: “How would you recommend our Catholic community find spiritual peace while they’re in their homes at this time, during this coronavirus shutdown and social distancing and precautions?”
Archbishop Gregory: “By sheer coincidence, I’m writing my (Catholic Standard) column this week on family time together. You know, so often I have heard especially parents saying they lament the fact that their children’s worlds are so busy that they don’t get a lot of time to spend any quality time with their kids. They’re all engaged in school, they’re engaged in sports, they’re engaged in outside activities. Well now they have to figure out, maybe with each other, how to be family, how to be together. And that can be a grace, it can also be a challenge, I’d be the first to acknowledge. All of a sudden, families, parents and children, have to be with each other, and hopefully they can find a grace that would not have been possible for them had we not faced this very difficult moment.”
Mark Zimmermann: “If the shutdown continues, and we’re still not able to have public Masses, as it looks quite likely, how would you recommend that people enter into the spirit and celebrate Holy Week and Easter?”
Archbishop Gregory: “We’re working on that right now, to live stream as many of the ceremonies as we can. We will postpone some, like the Chrism Mass, which is obviously an important moment for our priests, as they come together to celebrate our common priesthood in Christ, and to bless the oils. We’re going to postpone that until a time we can all come together. It is one of those ceremonies that belongs in Holy Week, but it is not absolutely necessary to take place in Holy Week, as some of the recent Vatican decrees have reminded us, so we’re going to postpone that.
“The Triduum, the three days from Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the (Easter) Vigil, they will have to be live streamed, and we will do that. We’re working out the details now, and hopefully we’ll be able to get some resources online that people can use in their own homes to follow us on this journey into uncharted waters to celebrate the Triduum, the most important hours of the church year.”
Mark Zimmermann: “We’re in an election year, and it’s hammered over and over again how divided our country is. Do you see this coronavirus crisis as maybe an opportunity for our people, and our Catholic community, to be united in the face of this challenge?”
Archbishop Gregory: “It’s certainly my hope and prayer. All of a sudden, we realize, maybe we needed to be reminded of, we are all subject to this disease, this virus. This morning I just read that Prince Charles of Great Britain has tested positive. Many of the public officials, political officials, the sports officials, the prominent folks in public life that have identified (as having the coronavirus), including the archbishop of New Orleans. All of a sudden, this disease has become the great equalizer.
“And if we can capture a sense of our unity, our frailty, our common exposure, it might help us step back from the polarized nature that has seemingly captured us both politically and even ecclesially. The Church also has experienced a terribly divisive nature, where one side of the bark of Peter is absolutely convinced that the other side of the bark of Peter has no place on Peter’s boat.”
