Churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will fully reopen next weekend, the archdiocese announced June 12.
In a letter to LA Catholics, Archbishop José Gomez announced that he would be lifting the dispensation to attend Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation on June 19, 2021. The dispensation will still be granted to those who are ill or have underlying health concerns.
“We continue to make significant progress in our fight against the pandemic in the three counties of the Archdiocese,” the archbishop wrote. “We can look forward to better days in which we can actively live our faith as the Body of Christ in our parish communities.”
Churches in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties had been closed to in-person worship since March of 2020, when Covid-19 restrictions began across the country. In December 2020, LA County officials lifted their ban on indoor religious services following a series of court cases that argued the pandemic restrictions were in violation of religious freedoms.
The Archdiocese also announced new liturgical guidelines, effective June 15, which replace the previous pandemic-related restrictions.
Notably, liturgical celebrations, including Mass, first communions, confirmations, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and quinceañeras, can now be held indoors, with no capacity limitations, social distancing requirements, or reservations. Parishes are allowed to resume prayer group meetings and other social gatherings.
Following the CDC’s loosened guidelines on mask wearing, fully vaccinated people will no longer be required to wear masks for Mass and other liturgical celebrations. Masks are required for unvaccinated worshippers outdoors when social distancing is not possible, and at all times indoors. Parishes are not to verify who is and who is not vaccinated.
The guidelines allow for the resumption of liturgical singing, but continue to restrict communion distribution to bread only.
“The coronavirus pandemic has affected our world… in ways we could never have imagined,” Archbishop Gomez wrote in his letter. “However… it brought us closer together as one family seeking the good and wellbeing of the other.
“We remain strong in our faith knowing that God will always be by our side.”
For a full list of guidelines, and more information, visit lacatholics.com/emergency.
The above comes from a June 12 story on Angelus News.
Oakland, too
Bishop Barber of Oakland diocese writes in a letter dated June 15:
Separating those with a COVID shot from those with no COVID shot? Yet Fr. Altman is the one who gets accused of being “divisive”? Good grief.
And what is the scientific basis of this decision? If you’ve really been vaccinated, then why avoid those who haven’t? And if you haven’t received some vaccine that really works, then why avoid those who have taken such a vaccine?
(In fact, there is a real danger in intermingling, but it’s because of a dangerous shedding problem, acknowledged in Pfizer’s own trial documentation.)
Also, if I have natural immunity, Abp. Gomez, then why must I still cover my face and obstruct my breathing? Why penalize these Catholics? Indeed, why even bother issuing new policies if you can’t enforce them? Ethicians and moral theologians commonly know that a law that can’t be enforced has no authority.
Juan:
I think the language may be just legal CYA: if they publicly advise the non-vaccinated to mask up, they can’t be accused of creating a hazard should someone try to sue them for catching COVID on church property. I’m not sure what “penalty” you are referring to, since no one is going to check.
Because the vaccine isn’t really a vaccine. It doesn’t stop you from being infected; it merely reduces the severity of symptoms if you catch it.
Who said they were separating the vaccinated from the unvaccinated?
According to Gomez’s new guidelines, those with a COVID shot and those without one are separated into two groups, each with its own set of conditions for attending indoor and outdoor “religious services.”
Inoculated: no mask requirement, either outdoors or indoors.
Non-Inoculated: masks are required indoors and, when social distancing isn’t possible, outdoors too.
So according to the Archbishop, there now has to be a physical barrier placed between the inoculated and non-inoculated while at Mass, which of course separates one group of Catholics at Mass from another group, both conceptually and physically.
And outdoors as well he is separating one group of Catholics from another group, since he wants the non-inoculated to stand farther away from the inoculated and, if that’s not possible, to wear the facial barrier of a mask.
Clearly, he is waging a form of religious apartheid against the Church, separating what he views as safe Catholics in his jurisdiction from dangerous Catholics and creating a new reward structure that reinforces this stratification.
“We remain strong in our Faith knowing that God will always be by our side.”
What are the practical effects of that? I didn’t see God anywhere during the pandemic, certainly not at my side and not at the church’s side.
Blessed are those who do not see and believe. John 20:29
And I will not say “Thank You” for what has been my right all along. The churches should never have been shuttered.
good one, Juan !
To me, the Church shutdown was necessary and fully justified to minimize disease spread. Disease a hoax? Or no worse than a cold? Tell that to the 600k dead. [May they rest in peace.]
This is the example of bishop-as-politician. Only good things. Distract from bad news. Don’t mention it. What about the Catholic schools that have had to close? What about the parishes that have reduced services because of dropped offertory? What do you think about reduced percentages of Catholics who will come back to Mass now?
I don’t think he has a plan or response for the problems coming , the drop off in parishioners and contributions could have been mitigated by better leadership .I am asking this honestly , what did gomez do during this crisis that reassured the faithful ? did he even try to make any availability of Adoration , confession or other sacraments to the faithful ? .
Honest question deserves an honest answer: he did nothing. And he hopes everyone forgets by distracting them. Look… cute cats!
And what about the people and their families denied the comfort of the Sacrament of the Sick, and a funeral after they died? I have two friends who both passed away 6 months ago from causes other than Covid. They were pillars of our parish, long-time members who had served in many capacities such as the Parish Council. Our pastor refused to visit them at their homes—even though no one had Covid.
One finally got the Last Rites after multiple phone calls, but the priest was done in 5 minutes and anything but comforting to a dying man’s family. They had a funeral when churches could reopen at 50%, but this family was forced to have the funeral outside in the rain, where everyone who came crammed together under the tent to avoid getting wet.
Both these families and mine now attend other parishes because of these events. The biggest takeaway for me during this pandemic is that the Church will not fight for my right to worship and receive the Sacraments. Even when the Supreme Court upheld those rights, Gomez refused to reopen. It should have been that people who are not afraid would be allowed to attend Mass, and those who are should stay home. I will never monetarily support the Institutional Church again.
Wow Sandy, a truly unfortunate story, and I’m sorry you experienced this. FWIW, the priests I know took heroic efforts to make sure that in these kinds of situations the pastoral needs outweighed the safety of the priest.
We ourselves (not you necessarily, our society) have a share in the blame. We could have done more to make the virus less of a threat, if only we had been more generous with our masking, distancing, outsiding, and now, vaccinating. Believe me, although the Bay Area, and some other parts of California are pretty well vaccinated, there will be places with lots of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers that will see a lot more deaths as we open up. This virus is not done with us yet.
We need to heal one another. I hope my prayers for you and your friends and their families is a tiny part of that healing.
I accept no blame for the China virus and resent your claim that somehow innocent Americans are responsible for Covid anything.
There is a plenary indulgence at the hour of death for Catholics who have been in the habit of saying some prayers.
I think the use of the Pardon Crucifix and the prayer that goes with it with a sincere act of contrition has a plenary indulgence attached near the hour of death. One can look that up on line.