Bishop Salvatore Matano, in a memorandum published this past Thursday, 12 March 2020, https://catholiccourier.com/sites/default/files/DioceseCoronavirusPrecautions.pdf
wrote,
“1. Catholics who are sick from any illness are asked to stay at home for their own protection and those of others.
2. Any Catholic who feels at risk from exposure to the virus, especially the elderly and most vulnerable, are not obligated to attend Mass. Anyone with concern for his or her health is not obligated to attend Mass.”
In fact, this has always been the case. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states “The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.” (CCC 2181)
It is especially important now to share with the elderly and medically fragile members of your family that their obligation to attend Sunday Mass is removed because of their vulnerability. Their instinct will often lead an older member of the Church to take significant risks in order to attend Mass.
Please do not take risks. For your own safety and especially out of concern for others, if you are in any way vulnerable or medically fragile, please do not come to mass during this health crisis.
What are some alternatives
St. Rita is taking steps to live stream the Mass. This week, March 15, we will be attempting our first live stream of the 7:30 AM mass, and it will be available to watch on St. Rita’s Website http://www.saintritawebster.org/ or on our Facebook page St. Rita Roman Catholic Church. This is our first attempt at this and live streaming is notoriously finicky, so please bear with us. If we are successful, then a recording of the mass will be available to watch throughout the day. If we are not, we will try again at the 9:00 am Mass.
While we work on making this live stream a part of St. Rita’s regular ministry, another place to find the Sunday Mass is on Channel 10’s website: https://www.whec.com/news/sunday-mass-march-15/5673639/?cat=12636 which is also broadcast Sunday 5:30 a.m.-6 a.m.: News10NBC (WHEC) and Sunday 8 a.m.: MeTV (Over-the-Air 10.2 & Cable channel 1245)
EWTN also broadcasts the Mass several times daily.
If none of these work for you, there are other ways to keep the Lord’s Day holy. Reading the Scriptures from mass (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031520.cfm ), praying the rosary, saying a longer grace before meals, or checking in on other friends and members of your family are all examples.
I will be praying for everyone’s safety and I appreciate you using your best judgement and encouraging others to do the same.
Fr. Tim can be reached at niven@dor.org.
