Today, Mayor Breed announced that San Francisco will permit indoor religious worship up to the extent permitted by state health regulations: 25% or up to 100 people maximum.  Archbishop Cordileone responds:
 
“I want to thank Mayor London Breed for recognizing that faith is essential.  As well, I want to thank the thousands of San Francisco Catholics and others who joined the processions, the more than 35,000 who signed the petition at FreeTheMass.com/QueremosLaMisa.com, came to St. Mary Cathedral’s outdoor plaza to witness to our faith, wrote letters to the editor or op-eds, and who generally spoke up with one united voice under the banner: We are essential! Free the Mass!

“October 3, the Vigil Feast of San Francisco’s patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi, will now, instead of a public manifestation of faith to urge fair treatment, be a united prayer of thanksgiving from the heart of San Francisco’s Catholics.  Please join us.

“Our petition effort, though, is not ended.  The state of California’s limit of no more than 100 people inside of a house of worship regardless of the size of the building is still unjust.  We want and we intend to worship God safely: with masks, social distancing, sanitation, ventilation, and other such safety protocols.  But we will not accept believers being treated more severely than other, comparable secular activities.

Full story at benedictinstitute.org.