The Washington National Cathedral plans to toll its bell 300 times on Tuesday to mark having reached 300,000 American lives lost in connection to COVID-19 earlier this week.
The cathedral’s 300-ton Bourdon Bell will ring 300 times, once for each 1,000 victims, the church said in a Monday statement.
The COVID-19 death toll for the United States passed the 300,000 mark on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, who is the dean of the cathedral, lamented in a statement how the continual deaths have become “routine” and admonished readers to follow proper safety protocols to keep from reaching 400,000 deaths. Hollerith wrote:
We have reached the point in America where the death toll from COVID-19 for just one day was the equivalent of 16 fully loaded 737 jets falling from the sky.
Think about that. We would never allow that kind of disaster to take place day after day in this country, and we certainly would never allow such tragedy to become normal or expected. And yet, the climbing death toll from this pandemic seems disturbingly routine. How awful that is.
As the Cathedral marks 300,000 lives lost to COVID-19, I have grown weary of tolling this bell. I don’t want to toll this bell any more. I don’t want to lose any more lives. I don’t want us to think this is normal, or that it is just the price we must pay for living in a free society. God forgive us if we find ourselves tolling this bell again at 400,000 lives lost.
The Christian faith teaches that each person is a beloved child of God, and that my well-being is deeply connected to your well-being. We are not lone individuals free from responsibility; rather, we are dependent upon one another for our very lives and commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves.
There are simple things we can do — wear a mask, keep our distance, adjust our holiday plans — to show our mutual respect and concern for one another. Yes, we are tired from the confines and struggles of this pandemic, and yes, it’s been a long nine months. But now, more than ever, we have to protect each other because there has been far too much death. A vaccine is coming and we will get through these difficult days, but we will only succeed if we do it together.
Lord, in your mercy, heal us from this disease. Remove the blindness from our eyes that keeps us from seeing your face in our neighbor. Soften our hearts, give us strength to endure and the will to act for the common good.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
The cathedral conducted a similar ceremony in September to commemorate when the virus had claimed 200,000 American lives. As The Daily Wire reported Sept. 20:
Washington National Cathedral tolled its bell 200 times over approximately 20 minutes on Sunday evening to mark the roughly 200,000 Americans who have died because of COVID-19.
“On Sunday, the Cathedral will mark the 200,000 lives lost to COVID-19 by tolling the Bourdon Bell,” the cathedral’s website read. “Join us on the Cathedral grounds as we toll the bell 200 times, once for every thousand lives lost.”
“While visiting our grounds please remember that masks and social distancing are required. There will be no access to the inside of the Cathedral,” they added.
Related: Washington National Cathedral Tolls Bell 200 Times To Commemorate 200,000 U.S. COVID-19 Deaths