‘Message of hope’ or misinformation? SC priest falsely compared COVID-19 and flu deaths
A priest at one of Beaufort County’s largest churches has apologized for a homily he gave in late June that contained misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, calling his statements a miscommunication.
The June 27 homily was given during an in-person Mass at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Bluffton, which has more than 10,000 members.
During the service that was also streamed live on the church’s Facebook page, Fr. Bruce Barnett spent his segment talking about COVID-19.
Barnett critiqued political leaders in a number of states, saying “they’re using a virus as an excuse to close our churches” as beer distributors, cannabis dispensaries, florists, and bookstores are being deemed essential while churches are being “lumped with” hair salons, movie theaters, and gyms.
Although S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster imposed a “work or home” order in April and put limits on large groups and capacity sizes in buildings such as restaurants, he never closed churches.
In fact, he said he wouldn’t stop churchgoers from attending Easter services, citing the First Amendment, although he did encourage them to stream services online, have church outdoors or otherwise ensure people social distance.
Barnett told the congregation the 15-day lockdown instituted to flatten the coronavirus curve was based on “faulty model predictions” but “the doomsday prophecies never happened.”
“As a former engineer I want to see the proof,” Barnett said in the homily. “I trust in God, but everyone else bring data.”
“The actual data predict that the number of deaths will be about the same as the normal flu season,” he continued. ”While this number is tragic, we live every day with much greater risk. Each of you took a much greater risk driving to church today to attend this Mass.”
The facts are at odds with those statements..
As of Friday morning, the CDC reported there’s been 3,952,273 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and that 142,755 people have died from the illness.
CDC data from the 2018-19 influenza season estimates about 35 million people in the U.S. contracted the flu and roughly 34,200 died from it.
According to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, 31 people have died from COVID-19 in Beaufort County.
Barnett also pointed to increased rates of issues such as domestic violence, drug addiction, and depression that may result from being isolated at home.
“If we are all eventually going to be exposed to this virus and there’s no way to prevent that then the sooner the overwhelming majority of people recover and resume their daily routines, the sooner we will be better able to protect the vulnerable and assist the sick.”
He then called for a “prudent return” to church, school, business, sports, recreation, politics, entertainment, travel, “and all the other things that give shape and meaning to our lives” to avoid another lockdown.
“For some time ahead there will be a constantly growing number of new infections,” he warned. “But that is not a cause for panic.”
Through a July 10 emailed statement from the Diocese of Charleston’s media director, Barnett said he was trying to spread hope.
“With so many people suffering due to COVID-19, it is especially important that we work to be prophets of hope,” the email said. “During my homily on June 27, I did not mean to dismiss the severity of the pandemic, but to convey a message of hope. I am sorry that I miscommunicated my message to some people.”
The June 28 video of the Mass that included the homily has since been deleted from the church’s Facebook page, but a church official says it wasn’t because of the content.
“It was normal practice for us to remove recorded Masses from our virtual platforms after they had been online for two weeks to ensure fresh content is available to parishioners,” St. Gregory Monsignor Ronald R. Cellini said in an emailed statement. “Over the past few months, Masses were left online longer; however, we are back to our previous procedure of regularly removing the videos from our online presence.”
COVID-19 precautions in the church
St. Gregory reopened for in-person Mass on May 11.
“Parish officials require parishioners who choose to attend Mass to follow protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control,” an emailed statement from the church said. “Some of these requirements include limiting the number of people allowed inside the church, wearing masks and practicing social distancing.”
While churches that are having in-person services are being cautious, a number of other churches in the Lowcountry are holding a limited number of face-to-face services or choosing to continue solely livestream instead.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 3:02 PM.
