According to The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Maine is one of only six states to impose restrictions on religious worship that are more onerous than other restrictions touching upon our lives due to the COVID pandemic. Gov. Mills is, of course, to blame for the imposition of this draconian, and unconstitutional order.

Still, my ire is not directed principally at her. No, my anger is directed first and foremost at Bishop Robert Deeley, shepherd of Maine Catholics, yet who has all but retreated into his “safe zone” at 510 Ocean Ave. in Portland. Maine Catholics are hungry for true pastoral leadership that challenges the politicians who impose unjust restrictions on worship, but sadly here in Maine we wait in vain.

I attend Mass at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lewiston, an architecturally beautiful church that can hold many hundreds of worshipers, and yet the rigid requirement that only 50 people may attend no matter the size of the church is imposed from Augusta. Bishop Deeley has refused to challenged this unjust and unconstitutional mandate with any sustained courage.

I urge all concerned Catholics who read this to contact the Diocesan office in Portland and demand the Bishop publicly challenge the unjust status quo imposed upon us by Gov. Mills. We must tell Bishop Deeley to man up and lead his people like the apostles he is heir to, and our great Catholic tradition he is responsible for.

Timothy McFadden, Edgecomb

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