the rev d brian horgan - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T06:05:23Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/the+rev+d+brian+horganReflections from the front line: The Rev. D. Brian Horganhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/reflections-from-the-front-line-the-rev-d-brian-horgan2020-09-02T18:01:28.000Z2020-09-02T18:01:28.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960962864,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960962864,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960962864?profile=original" /></a>The Rev. D. Brian Horgan of St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach has been on the front lines of war before as a chaplain in the Air Force early in his pastoral career. Now, with COVID-19, he feels like he’s in a war again. <br />The pandemic has changed how we worship God and the way we bury our loved ones, Horgan said. About 60% of parishioners attend socially distanced Mass each week, but funerals are a different story. <br />“Most funerals have been with just the funeral director and the deceased,” Horgan said. “It’s been challenging, but we can do tremendous work with the families at home.” <br />In this small parish, which has lost more than a dozen members of its congregation to the virus, goodbyes are by telephone, and even clergy can’t bridge that gap.<br /> “Sometimes we get in and sometimes we don’t,” Horgan said. That means some don’t receive last rites, an important final sacrament that includes confession and absolution. <br />“It wipes away all your sins” before death, Horgan explained, and “it brings great comfort to the dying.” <br />Horgan can perform last rites weeks before a person dies or if someone is facing a serious medical procedure, but COVID usually arrives unexpectedly.<br /> Loved ones’ not receiving that final Communion weighs heavily on the hearts of some families. But Horgan finds a way to comfort his parishioners. A priest isn’t needed for someone to be absolved of sins, he said, if he or she simply repents and asks forgiveness. “God is full of mercy and love.” <br />Horgan, who earned medals for his work during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2008, says COVID-19 is “a clever enemy shrouded in mystery.” <br />He senses an underlying fear that reminds him of war.<br /> But “don’t be afraid. Fear is a ‘false experience appearing real,’” Horgan says, spelling out an acronym associated with the word. “I trust God and serving God’s people is the most important thing I do. Fear won’t hold me back.” <br /> <em>— Janis Fontaine</em></p></div>