Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom issued new guidelines that provide for houses of worship to conduct religious services inside our churches. Since the specific application of these guidelines is subject to the provisions of each county, we waited to ascertain information for both San Diego and Imperial County before communicating with you.
Parishes in San Diego County may begin holding Masses inside their churches tomorrow. All religious services inside must observe social distancing and include no more than 100 participants. The steps that parishes implemented in the initial period of limited worship in our churches during May and June should be reinstated for indoor worships (including the universal use of masks, no physical expression of the Sign of Peace, Communion only in the hand, and careful traffic patterns for Communion). The distribution of the Eucharist may take place in the normal place of the Mass or at the end of Mass, as the parish chooses.
Pastors may also continue to celebrate the Eucharist outdoors as they have been doing in recent months. There is no aggregate limit on outside congregations, but social spacing is mandatory, as are the use of masks, the prohibitions of the Sign of Peace, the distribution of Communion only in the hand and careful traffic patterns.
In talking with several pastors, it is clear to me that parishes will make different choices in San Diego County on whether to hold Mass inside, outside or both in the coming weeks. Pastors should make the choice that best fits their physical situation and community desires.
Imperial County is to issue new provisions for outdoor worship soon. For that reason, we will discuss all of the options and reach a consensus of how to proceed.
The universal dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Eucharist continues throughout the diocese. Livestream Masses should continue wherever possible as they have become a spiritual lifeline for our elderly and vulnerable populations.
I know that the frequency of changes in liturgical regulations during this period of pandemic has been hard on pastors, parish staff and you and your community. I commend the pastors for the magnificent efforts they have undertaken to serve our people and bring them the sacramental life of the Church. Their creativity, energy and commitment have been edifying.
Today marks the general opening for in-person classes throughout San Diego County. I believe that this will be a great boost for our students in their learning and formation and for the parent communities. But I am also aware that this brings new burdens of vigilance for our teachers, principals and school staffs.
The above comes from a Sept. 1 letter issued by Bishop McElroy of San Diego.
San Diego resident here. Honestly, I liked the outdoor masses. Our church had pop-up canopies in the parking lot. We always had a cool breeze Saved a lot on electric bills; no lights or aircon needed and easier to sanitize. Curious passersby (non Catholics?) also had a chance to see a Catholic mass (an evangelizing opportunity?) How beautiful the Catholic Church is! I’ve noticed, unlike the mega Churches, we don’t need big high tech stages, LCD screens or shoulder to shoulder people to function. You can have 100s of people outdoors in the Vatican or just the hood of jeep (google: WW2 mass jeep hood) to conduct mass.
I like outdoor Masses too and will probably continue with some after we have permission to celebrate Mass with people in the Church building, at least until it starts to rain. Then I would love the option to bring everyone inside, even though we have large tents outside. Wind and rain together could make it pretty uncomfortable.
The Church that I attend did the New Fire celebration on the sidewalk, and it drew new people into the Church who saw it and were inspired by it. We are missing opportunities to evangelize when we rush back into the pews and fail to see the opportunity of the witness that outdoor masses present. My opinion, others may (and I’m sure) will disagree.
New Fire ceremony, isn’t that a pagan Aztec thing? Do you go to a Catholic church?
Mass in the parking lot in 100 degrees sucks compared to mass in the air conditioned church. Sweaty sunburned services while kneeling on pavement isn’t why people donated for years to buy that air con, least we can do is enjoy it and be thankful for their generosity. Let Pope Francis do without off his a/c to save the planet, I like mine. Before you jump on me, yes I offered it up, was grateful to have mass, didn’t nag or blame the priest. I know I’m not alone here.
I agree. But with the finances of the Church the way they are we have to consider too that it costs about $100.00 an hour to run that A/C in the Church. I’m a Priest in a large parish near L.A. and I’ve finished Mass feeling like I just left the gym and had to change clothes. So I love Air Conditioning! But with collections down to about ¼ of what we need it’s tough to keep things the way they were. I think of the people who went to Mass in the mud with the Priest celebrating Mass on the hood of a jeep during wars and I compare that with my cushy chair in the shade with no bullets flying around me. I’ve worn a hat that has a sponge in the top that I’ve soaked and put in the freezer. That helps!
I have to congratulate you on the photo. While there are a few exceptions, it perfectly represents the experience of Mass in a Diocese like San Diego: Strange, modernistic interior, semi-circular seating and a mostly empty church. Decades of caving in to every new thing invited this. Unless something changes at the top, it will only continue on its downward spiral.
No kiss of peace oh wow what a great start! Let’s also rid the Church of hand holding, altar girls, clown Masses, giant puppets, lay lectors, drums, guitars, piano, folk, rock, mariachi music, women and effeminate men in black leotards prancing around the “dinner table” called liturgical dancing, communion in the hand while standing, people wearing shorts, tank tops, and sandals to Mass, and bring back the Mass of All Times.
The real Kiss of Peace is ancient and should be kept, a gentle bow to one’s neighbor, as the Priest has done for centuries. The other trash can go. The “Mass of All Times” has changed over the centuries from Hebrew to Greek to Latin and other languages and Rites. The Church decides which are valid and which are not.
Romulus Augustus, you said it all for me. Thank you.
Romulus Angustus, Do you write this list every time or cut and paste?
I say, Romulus Augustus’ caricature there does not usually happen in a typical Mass in your typical parish. People, in all my life I’ve never seen at Mass “effeminate men in black leotards prancing around the ‘dinner table.'” Where does RA go to find such a thing apart from the LA Congress? Does RA actually go out looking for Masses with all of these aberrations? If Romulus thinks that it was all honky-dory liturgically prior to the Second Vatican Council, think again. According to priests I know who were in active ministry at the time, there were also liturgical aberrations prior to the Council. And people, speaking as someone who goes to the TLM regularly, I say that “bringing back the Mass of All Times” won’t necessarily solve all or even half of the problems of the Church these days.
It happens. St. Monica’s had feminized men in lavendar leotards with sashes dancing while one pranced about holding a bowl of smoking incense, something I can’t unsee. Lucky you, this does not happen at the TLM where priests say the black and do the red, period.
Carolos Estrada, I can tell you that there are even more celebrations of the Mass in the Ordinary Form where “feminized men in lavender leotards” do not happen. Saying that the only solution to liturgical aberrations is to make the Extraordinary Form the “ordinary” way that the Church celebrates Mass is wrong.
Jon – Cradle Catholic here. 60 YO. I’ve seen way more liturgical abuse and down right heresy in Novus Ordo Mass than I’ve ever witness in various TLM’s attended.
If one wants a abuse free liturgy that is not wrong. Finding that in the TLM is not wrong. We made that transition a few years back and not we no longer have to worry about what level of nonsense we’ll experience in our local OF. I wont apologize for that.
Oh, yes, the OF can and does get celebrated with devotion and reverence. However, rarely and inconsistently.
Keth w Petersen says: “the OF can and does get celebrated with devotion and reverence. However, rarely and inconsistently.” This is false. The OF is usually celebrated with devotion and reverence. This is the case in many, many such celebrations I have been to up and down the state, and in other parts of the world. It is not true that the TLM is “abuse-free.” Actually people, it is the implementation of the OF, the Mass of Paul VI, with its pedagogical aspect, that educated people what the Holy Mass is all about. The future of the Churchis not in th e TLM, but in the OF reverently and devoutly celebrated. There will never be a stampede back to the TLM.
Amen to Romulus Augustus!
Great! Use this as the beginning of removing the distracting, germ-spreading, me-centered, Greeting of Peace once and for all. It was a novelty introduced after Vat2 but not req’d in any Vat2 document.
Yes, I will not miss the sign of peace, nor will I miss watching people spread their germs drinking from the chalice. Yuk. I am from the Midwest, so it is interesting to watch the Southern Californians go back and forth on the issue of the outdoor masses.
Another cheer for stopping the sign of peace.
I’m disappointed, though not surprised, that our bishop appears to be prohibiting communion on the tongue. My understanding is that this prohibition is not allowed by Church law. I don’t go to Novus Ordo so I don’t have a dog in this fight but I feel bad for others.
We absolutely have the right to receive on the tongue per Redemptionis Sacramentum. Cardinal Sarah, head of the Congregation of Divine Worship clarified it again in May 2020 after corona concerns had priests and others disregarding the universally binding instruction to allow reception on the tongue.