Angelus News | February 26, 2021 | Vol. 6 No. 4
Joseph Salinas, a first-grader at Holy Name of Mary School in San Dimas, gets a helping hand from teacher Maria Bartelt as classmate Elia Castaneda looks on. Holy Name is one of the more than 60 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that have opened for in-class instruction so far. On Page 10, Tom Hoffarth looks at how Catholic schools have largely led the way in safely returning to the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic, and at what other schools can learn from their struggles and successes.
Joseph Salinas, a first-grader at Holy Name of Mary School in San Dimas, gets a helping hand from teacher Maria Bartelt as classmate Elia Castaneda looks on. Holy Name is one of the more than 60 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that have opened for in-class instruction so far. On Page 10, Tom Hoffarth looks at how Catholic schools have largely led the way in safely returning to the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic, and at what other schools can learn from their struggles and successes.
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Nicholas Christakis<br />
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS<br />
away. A witness said that for three<br />
days the city rang with the sounds of<br />
breaking pottery.<br />
For Christakis, our symptoms of<br />
pandemic avoidance are clear: “The<br />
lack of scientific literacy, capacity for<br />
nuance, and honest leadership has<br />
hurt us.”<br />
We are fortunate, even in our ignorance,<br />
however. We have drugs that<br />
can moderate the symptoms. We have<br />
vaccines produced in record time that<br />
should — unless severe mutations<br />
outrace our rush to herd immunity<br />
— eventually protect us. The truth is<br />
that masks and social distancing have<br />
historically saved many lives as viruses<br />
rapidly circulate. Despite how terrible<br />
our death toll is today (450,000 and<br />
counting), if not for the preventative<br />
actions we’ve taken, it would have<br />
been much higher. The Spanish Flu<br />
killed 550,000 Americans (the equivalent<br />
of 1,721,000 deaths today).<br />
Yet our life expectancy is falling and<br />
our inability to resolutely respond<br />
as a community to this grave threat<br />
portends a long denouement before<br />
we feel safe once more.<br />
Christakis says history suggests that<br />
when we get the genuine “all clear,”<br />
“consumption will come back with a<br />
vengeance.” He quotes an observer in<br />
1348: When the plague subsided, “all<br />
who survived gave themselves over<br />
to pleasures: monks, priests, nuns,<br />
and lay men and women all enjoyed<br />
themselves. ... And everyone thought<br />
himself rich because he had escaped.<br />
...”<br />
Pope Francis has urged us again and<br />
again to see in this crisis an opportunity<br />
to renew our society, to reach out<br />
to our fellows, to renounce our false<br />
securities. What will it be: Roaring<br />
’20s or a reformation of society for the<br />
common good?<br />
Unfortunately, if history holds, that<br />
answer may be predictable as well. <br />
Greg Erlandson is the president and<br />
editor-in-chief of Catholic <strong>News</strong> Service.<br />
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