MASSES TO RESUME, WITH RESTRICTIONS
Archbishop Allen Vigneron says Mass is a ‘most essential activity’
Following a two-month shutdown caused by the COVID-19 health crisis, local churches can begin hosting public Masses again as early as next week.
The resumption of in-person services will come with quite a few changes, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit.
In a letter on Tuesday, Archbishop Allen Vigneron said the Masses will resume in all parishes on Friday, May 29, but individual pastors may start celebrating Mass on Tuesday, May 19.
But he warned church-goers that services in the weeks ahead “will look and feel quite different from the Mass you remember from two months ago.”
Among the immediate changes, parishioners must wear face masks in the church, maintain a 6-foot distance from others, limit singing, and attendance will be limited to 25% of the church’s total capacity.
The gradual reopening comes two months after the archdiocese suspended public liturgies in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by coronavirus. The highly contagious virus has sickened more than 47,000 people and killed in excess of 4,500 people in Michigan.
Vigneron said the opening comes as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has started to allow more non-essential businesses to open.
“In keeping with this gradual reopening of our society, it is necessary that we make similar arrangements within our local church to allow once again for the communal celebration of Holy Mass, which at its core is the most ‘essential’ activity known to our world,” he said in the letter.
The shutdown kept churches closed on Easter Sunday, considered one of the most important holidays on the Christian calendar. It also caused financial stress as churches experienced “dramatically decreased” offertories, despite online giving options, the archbishop said.
Collection boxes will no longer be passed from person to person in a pew, but drop boxes will be set up to collect the donations.
Baptisms, funerals and weddings, which were suspended but have been allowed since April 30, may also resume but participants must adhere to social distancing rules.
The archbishop released liturgical directives because of the pandemic. Highlights include:
• The faithful will be required to keep at least six feet apart, except for those of the same household at all times
• Attendance will be limited to 25% of the building’s capacity. This may be accomplished through a “first come, first served” approach or an inline ticketing
system to allow people to reserve seating
• Anyone who is ill, older than 65 or caring for the sick is urged to stay home
• Holy water and baptismal fonts will remain empty
• For Holy Communion, parishes are urged to either designate a specific minister for those wishing to receive Communion on the tongue instead of the hand or to ask those receiving it on the tongue to approach last
• In between liturgies, church facilities must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Items such as pew cards and hymnals may be removed to make cleaning easier.
• Singing will be limited to a small number of “well-known songs” including those that can be sung from memory, to avoid using hymnals when possible.
Visit aod.org/emergen cyresponse.