Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
It’s Time For “First Things” To Consider the Last Things

It’s Time For “First Things” To Consider the Last Things

Last updated on: May 16, 2020 at 1:01 pm by Mary Pezzulo

It’s Time For “First Things” To Consider the Last Things 2020-05-16T13:01:00-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I wrote something about First Things editor R. R. Reno’s weird aversion to masks a few days ago. It turned out I didn’t know the half of it. While I was puzzling over one of his tweets, Reno was having a Chernobyl-like meltdown on Twitter, decrying and berating everyone who wore a mask to protect others from COVID as unmanly cowards.

Now, as has been pointed out countless times, the purpose of a cloth mask is not to protect the wearer; it’s to protect the people the wearer comes into contact with. COVID-19 is principally spread through droplets that get exhaled. Those droplets can hover in the air for a long time. If you wear a cloth mask when you cough, sneeze or talk in front of people, that’s far from a perfect defense against spreading the virus. But if you do happen to have COVID germs in your mouth, masks have been demonstrated to do some good in decreasing the chances that you’ll spread them in a crowded place. It’s not foolproof, but it’s a layer of protection, and the layers of protection working together can slow the spread. Like all the other social distancing guidelines, it’s not really about you. It’s about what you might accidentally do to somebody else, if you happen to be an asymptomatic carrier or just not to have developed symptoms yet.

If you don’t believe the science involved, that’s foolish of you in my opinion, but it may not rise to the level of a sin. If you’ve got a very serious reason to violate social distancing or to not wear a mask– such as the people who ran outside to help someone at the Friendship Room the other day, or a person with severe PTSD who has uncontrollable panic attacks every time she covers her mouth– that’s another matter. If, on the other hand, you violate social distancing guidelines and refuse to wear a mask just because you feel that your desire to have an easy time is more important than the life and health of your neighbor, that’s immoral. That’s a sin. That’s saying that others must die so that you can live as you wish.

Reno, however, ranted on Twitter that the masks were a sign of cowardice and a lack of masculinity, not to mention being a “moral monster.” For this, he was reamed out so thoroughly that he deleted his Twitter account, but not before screenshots were taken.

But that wasn’t R. R. Reno’s final missive to the internet. The next day, First Things published an essay in his interminable “Coronavirus Diary” series, yet another editorial where he describes what a boring time he’s having, how outraged he is to have to think about people other than himself, and how he’s breaking the rules during lockdown in his comfortable posh life in New York City. This essay is the most shocking by far.

I notice that someone at First Things has been trying to pretty up the message of Reno’s “Coronavirus Diary” essays by putting on bylines that don’t have much to do with the article. The byline of his diary entry where he describes spitting in front of a baby carriage for no reason, for example, said something along the lines of “The works of mercy are still being carried out in spite of the stay-at-home order in New York.” But that’s not what the essay was about. It was about Reno sulking and spitting in the street. The byline for the most recent entry is similarly pulled out of thin air; it says “a society that condemns the sick to die alone needs to reexamine its basic principles.” But that’s not what the essay is about.

The essay is about how Reno has frittered away his afternoons lately. He’s violated the stay-at-home order in several ways: inviting his wife’s friend over for wine, going on a bicycling jaunt across state lines with another buddy, and even attending clandestine liturgies that were strictly forbidden by his ordinary– a serious offense, as Reno himself seems aware of, and I hope the Archdiocese of New York has something to say about it. He actually had the gall to visit a hospital emergency room in violation of quarantine, not because he was ill but because he wanted to interview a doctor in person and the phone just wouldn’t do. He even claims that, after refusing to wear a mask all day long, he found a dirty used mask in a gutter and actually put it on his face so he could ride the ferry boat. I hope he likes cold sores.

And he did all this, as it happens, while positive for COVID-19.

Reno writes that he tested positive for COVID antibodies at the beginning of May. If the test is correct, he was an asymptomatic carrier for some time. But he didn’t self-isolate before or after the test, nor even after he got the results. He put everyone he came into contact with in danger, not for any noble reason but because he didn’t feel like following rules. He endangered that friend of his wife’s with whom he enjoyed a glass of wine. He endangered the priest and congregation who, and I feel I have to be absolutely clear about this, seem to have deliberately violated a direct order from the bishop and celebrated a clandestine, illicit liturgy in secret multiple times. He breathed COVID germs on the hand that gave him the Holy Eucharist. He endangered his friend on the bicycling trip and the people at the coffee shop they visited. He endangered everyone on the ferryboat he rode while wearing a grubby mask he pulled out of a New Jersey gutter. He further endangered courageous medical professionals working to save lives in a hospital. Any of them could have died an agonizing death because of his recklessness.

And R. R. Reno didn’t do this for some understandable reason. He didn’t do it because he sincerely believed masks and social distancing were unnecessary to keep people safe and the doctors were part of a lying conspiracy, which would have been foolish but perhaps morally defensible. He didn’t do it because he saw some greater good he could accomplish to help someone that was worth the risk. He just felt that his own personal comfort was too important, and he couldn’t be bothered with keeping his fellow human beings safe. As my friend Scott Eric Alt has pointed out, he’s worse than Typhoid Mary.

Has Reno done one measly thing to help anybody else, while his city was the epicenter of the worst crisis this country has known in decades?

If so, I’m not aware that he’s written about it. He’s only written about what he’s done to keep entertained and how unfair it is that he was asked to take precautions to prevent any deaths.

How can a human being be pleased that this whining “diary” of selfish petulance is the legacy he has to present to the world while he lived in interesting times?

This weekend, First Things keeps releasing essay after pedestrian essay as if their editor didn’t have a massive meltdown in public and then confess to breaking the laws of the Church and of secular government while wearing somebody else’s spit-covered mask. They seem to think they can go on pretending to be a serious periodical and we’ll all forget.

They ought to be ashamed.

The mettle of human beings is tested in dangerous and uncertain historic times like these. R. R. Reno has proven himself to have no mettle at all. First Things is no longer a serious journal if it ever was one, but the personal diary of a preening coward. And they certainly ought not to represent themselves as having anything to do with Christianity.

It’s time that Reno and everybody else at First Things gave a good long thought to the Last Things.

At the end of our lives, Christ will separate the sheep from the goats. That’s not an event that can be avoided. It will happen. He’s going to look at what we did for one another, when times were difficult and there was great need. When people were desperate and dying, what did we do? Did we try to help in any way we could? Did we feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, care for the sick in what little ways we could manage? Did we at least try not to make things worse? Or did we focus on ourselves and how we could live as we pleased even if it killed someone?

We weren’t put on this earth just to have a good time at the expense of our neighbor. People claiming to be Christians ought to be the first to remember that.

First Things and R. R. Reno have forgotten.

Image via Pixabay

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Public face of Catholicism

Archdiocese of New York

Previous Post

May 16, 2020

La Belle Eden

Next Post

May 19, 2020 Norma McCorvey's "Deathbed Confession" Reveals A Decades-Old Con

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Sheol," often found in Psalms, mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Blessing The grave or abode of the dead Eternal light Above the mountain