Starting Friday, June 18, 2021, Pastors may accommodate the faithful for the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass as well as other sacramental and worship services at 100% of the seating capacity in the parish churches.
I am rescinding the general dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Starting Sunday, June 20, 2021 all the Catholic faithful in the Diocese of Sacramento are obliged to personally attend and actively participate in the Sunday celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass (Canon 1247). Pastors and the faithful are counseled that individuals are not obligated to attend the Eucharist on Sunday or other obligatory solemnities if they are sick, have a vulnerable health condition, are caring for someone with a vulnerable health condition, or have other serious reasons (Canon 1245; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2181).
All the faithful are reminded of the perennial obligation to keep holy the Lord’s Day by observing Sunday with prayer, spiritual reflection, works of mercy, fellowship, and rest.
Pastors and the faithful should continue to observe sensible public health precautions:
– Practice frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitizer.
– Refrain from hand shaking and other forms of physical contact with others outside of one’s household.
– Continue to clean the pews at least twice on Sundays and other days when there are multiple services.
– Facial masks are still encouraged.
– Priests, deacons, and extraordinary ministers should continue to use facial masks for the distribution of communion. During the distribution of communion priests, deacons, and extraordinary ministers should have sanitizer available for use when needed.
For communion, the distribution of the cup is still suspended.
The exchange of the sign of peace during Mass may resume. The faithful should refrain from gestures of physical touching with persons outside of one’s household. A respectful bow or wave is encouraged.
Congregational singing may resume. Musicians and choirs should observe sensible public health precautions. Pastors should use their discretion based on local circumstances regarding the use of facial masks by musicians, cantors, and choirs.
Liturgical processions may resume: Entrance procession, the gospel procession, the procession of the offertory gifts, and the recessional procession.
It is recommended that the collection baskets be handled only by the ushers rather than passed from person to person.
Holy Water may be made available to the faithful in the traditional fonts at the entrance of the church.
Livestreaming the Sunday celebrations of the Sacrifice of the Mass for the benefit of those who cannot attend in person due to illness or other circumstances noted above is encouraged.
All the faithful are encouraged to receive the COVID-19 vaccination when available. Consult with your doctor regarding any personal health concerns.
Other ministerial, catechetical, and social gatherings may resume while also observing sensible public health precautions as outlined above. Pastors should take additional precautions for the handling of food and the provision of materials to avoid the use of shared utensils. Avoiding self-serve options for food and drink is encouraged.
The return to regular congregational gatherings will be welcomed by many. Mutual respect, charity and patience should be cheerfully exercised so that all the members of the Body of Christ are welcomed and encouraged by this blessed opportunity. Over the course of the long pandemic journey we have learned the personal duty we have for one another’s spiritual and physical health whenever we gather and even when we are apart. The risks of infection still threaten us. Our communion with the charity and mercy of Christ will help safeguard us and lead us on the path of holiness together.
The above comes from a June 1 letter from Bishop Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento.
Would you look at that pic? A novus ordo Mass and church with no felt banners. And the tabernacle is in the center high altar. And it’s packed with people. People who love the church and love the Mass and love being Catholic. So much for the derogatory cliches and stereotypes about the new Mass. Getting back to normal will be great. Then we can get to work celebrating Mass and being the people of God. Let all divisions cease.
Anonymous, I did look at that pic.
It looks to me that the folks in the foreground, sadly, have turned their attention away from their Lord and Savior, Who reposes in the tabernacle, patiently waiting for them to focus on Him. They seem to have forgotten they’re not at the parish hall, but rather at Calvary, near the foot of the cross, with St. John and our Blessed Mother.
The Lord rejoices that his faithful take delight in welcoming and loving their fellow members of the Body of Christ, present right there in the pews and not just in the tabernacle.
Anonymous, I personally doubt all divisions will ever cease. Some prefer TLM. Others prefer vernacular. As long as the ‘rules’ are properly obeyed, both are equally valid.
Worry not in a TLM parish, we have no hand holding, kiss of peace or any other “un-Catholic” practices, such as you see in the picture above in the Novus Ordo church.
If you have not love, you are nothing.
RA and A Do you know the 5 love languages? My son taught them to me. He learned them in CCD. Physical touch is one of them. Some people are talking about feeling skin hunger or touch starvation because of social distancing with the Covid pandemic.
When I am touched, I don’t like it and it does not make me feel loved. But I understand that the other person is trying to show love so I bear with it..
The picture shows two people out of one hundred fifty shaking hands. One lady looks like she is holding her nose-definitely not a love language.
“Love” is not a meaningless, forced gesture.
People at the Traditional Mass do not touch each other at the Mass itself, but many of us have hugged relatives and friends we have not seen in a while at the church functions outside or in the hall. That is all voluntary and not during the mass itself, and no one was or is forced to do it.
I’ve been poked in the back when I didn’t turn around to shake hands with the Protestant behind me. Leave me alone when I’m at Mass.
Don’t worry I will not be touching you or poking you in the back. I keep my hands to myself with strangers. and even with some relatives. At the newer mass I bow to a few people if the priest insists on a sign of peace. Bowing is done at the Traditional Mass also.,
Anon, I have had that happen too.
I would never poke a schismatic in the back who thought I was a protestant just because I attend the novus ordo.
I’m curious. Why do so many California Catholic Daily readers seem to make every story about the Novus Ordo and TLM?
China takes over Taiwan. Must be because they celebrated the NO in Taiwan.
Stocks plummet. Reactionary traders must’ve attended a TLM.
Before seeing a medical specialist do you ask, “Dr., which Form of the Mass do you attend?” (And, what if the best one isn’t even Catholic?)
Really, not every issue in the universe revolves around which form of the Mass you prefer.
While Robert Sungenis does indeed seem to believe in a geocentric solar system, some readers here seem to believe in a Trid.-centric or NO centric world.
Oh yeah, I think this story was about Mass attendance and COVID restrictions in Sacramento.
Love your humorous post, but some of this has to do with sanitary conditions. Forcing people to shake or hold hands was not all that sanitary, even before COVID. Previously some people objected for that reason alone. Hopefully we have learned the lesson — a polite bow or wave of the hand is a far better way of doing the sign of peace without interrupting the most important part of the mass and getting a virus.
As for shaking hands at business dealings, one can refrain easily if one knows one has a cold. On the other hand maybe we will change to bows even with that.
The drought in Sacramento is getting pretty severe. Better wonder if the government will tell people to stay home so they don’t use up too much water. Then would churches close again? They did it once…..
Because Vatican II caused this entire war between the TLM and the Novus Ordo. The TLM was just fine for 1,500 years until modernists and six Protestant ministers and Free Masons had to destroy our beautiful Traditional Latin Mass and replace it with a man made mess. I hope this answers your question?
The church needed a breath of fresh air from the staleness of the preconciliar liturgy and church. Vatican II opened the windows. I guarantee you that if the reforms of Vatican II had not been made, the church would be having an even greater crisis in Mass attendance, baptisms, marriages, priestly vocations, and such. The preconciliar liturgy is incapable of connecting with modern man. Of course there are a tiny number of throwbacks who like it, just like there are nerds who reenact Civil War battles. But most people care nothing about time-capsule stuff like Civil War reenactments and the preconciliar Mass. They live in today, not the past.
The TLM isn’t 1500 years old, and it was never the only mass in the Universal Church. And the NO wasn’t the first change in the Latin Rite mass, even between Trent and VII. The amount of misconceptions and historical misunderstandings among some TLM adherents is mind boggling.
I know two people in their twenties who got COVID at an airport last weekend. It’s not over. We’re reopening too soon. There’s going to be a fourth wave.