This particular scene out of western Australia is bad enough:
Churchgoers have been left stunned after a police officer stopped a Catholic mass on Thursday to check parishioners were wearing masks.
Police halted the service at St Bernadette's Glendalough church midway through the priest addressing the congregation following a tip off that people were not wearing masks...
Five people were found to not be wearing masks, one of which had an exemption while the four others were made to put them on.
Government authorities disrupting religious services to enforce inane, ridiculous state edicts... doesn't seem like anything could go wrong there, no siree!
But the response of the local archbishop was in some ways even worse:
Catholic Archdiocese of Perth archbishop Tim Costelloe said it is "highly regrettable" that police felt obliged to intervene during the service to enforce the mask rules.
"It is my hope that other ways can be found to deal with this delicate issue in future and my office stands ready to cooperate with the police in this matter," he said.
"It is the formal and very public policy of the Archdiocese of Perth to do everything it can to facilitate compliance with all the government's requirements in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It is a matter of regret to me that the police were placed in a position which led them to take the action they did."
"Do everything it can to facilitate... my office stands ready to cooperate... matter of regret to me..."
Yikes.
The proper response, if you're wondering, would have been as follows:
"The police have no authority to interrupt a sacred liturgy to enforce government medical mandates. In no way do we support, condone or cooperate with such policies. We will not tolerate incursions into our worship and will not collude with the government on this or any other measures that threaten, bully or demean our parishioners."
You'll be waiting around for a while before you hear something like that, I guess!
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