With new cases of COVID-19 announced every day in New England, many events, meetings and conferences are being postponed or canceled. Among them is an annual Catholic gathering, in April this year, that attracts 15,000 faithful from around the world to Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Clarence Fanto is covering Divine Mercy Sunday for The Berkshire Eagle.
Clarence Fanto: This is a congregation that was founded way back in 1670 in Poland. And they hold this international feast, technically called Divine Mercy Sunday, every year. But it has to be on the specific weekend so it can't be postponed or rescheduled. It's simply canceled for this year.
Carrie Healy, NEPR: And how did the Marian Fathers say their arrived at the decision?
Clarence Fanto: Well, there have been talks going on in town involving emergency services coordinators, police and the board of health, because it is a mass gathering. And typically it has been drawing 15,000 to 20,000 pilgrims to their Eden Hill headquarters overlooking downtown Stockbridge. The Congregation of Marian Fathers has been long established as a center and as a shrine here in Stockbridge. And so it is a mass gathering that attracts people from many states and from foreign countries as well.
It's been under discussion and the congregation issued a statement saying that after collaborating with these local health officials and emergency personnel, they decided that, out of an abundance of caution and for the safety and best interests of the community and the pilgrims and the Marion Father's staff that handles the event, it would be best to cancel it for this year.
Carrie Healy, NEPR: Did they indicate to you that they had received any correspondence or communications from any of these thousands of people who would have congregated, with any hesitation towards coming to a place that has a coronavirus currently?
They didn't address that. Though, I can tell you that at the Eagle we've received inquiries from people who normally attended the event and wanted to know whether it was going to go forward this year. They did not elaborate on their very basic statement.
But Stockbridge Police Chief Darrell Fennelly told the Eagle, and emphasized, that the town didn't need to ask the congregation to cancel the gathering. As he told us, they looked for information from the police in Stockbridge and made the decision on their own, also based significantly on updates from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
So the event that is not going on, is still going to have an international audience of congregants who will be wanting to do something. What is it that the Marians have suggested they do?
Well, in their statement directed toward the faithful pilgrims, they suggested, and I'll quote here "that the extraordinary grace of Divine Mercy Sunday is available to you on that day by receiving Holy Communion in a state of grace, consider going to confession prior to Easter so as not to overwhelm your local parish on Divine Mercy Sunday, which is an international Catholic feast.
In your travels as a reporter for the Eagle, have you anecdotally heard anybody express any concern that this economic impact is not going to be brought to the area this year?
Well, actually, the economic impact is rather limited, because the pilgrims stay on the grounds primarily. They don't necessarily patronize any businesses. So it's a very self-contained event. And it goes off — after all these years — it goes off smoothly. Mostly, the congregants arrive in caravans of buses. There's a staging area. They are transported to the grounds on Eden Hill. And that's where they spend the two days.
