The Republican Attorney General of Florida threatens Catholic Schools and the Bishops of Florida over vaccine exemptions based in faith

 

Florida AG’s threat to Catholic schools ‘clear violation’ of the First Amendment, law scholar says

written by Kate Scanlon 

A file photo shows students at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., receiving Communion during a Mass and rally for the opening of the school year. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter July 31, 2026, to the Catholic bishops of Florida demanding that Catholic schools in the Sunshine State adopt religious exemptions to vaccine requirements or risk their ability to participate in the state's school voucher program. (OSV News photo/Tom Tracy)

(OSV News) — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter to the Catholic bishops of Florida demanding that Catholic schools in the Sunshine State adopt religious exemptions to vaccine requirements or risk their ability to participate in the state’s school voucher program.

But Rick Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, told OSV News that the letter “reflects a misunderstanding of Americans’ fundamental right to religious freedom and is a glaring and dangerous government overreach.”

In the letter, dated July 31, Uthmeier argued that Florida law “requires public and private schools to exempt students from the vaccination requirements” if “a parent has a religious objection,” demanding that Catholic schools “comply with Florida law and grant religious exemptions to school vaccine policies.”

Florida AG identifies himself as a Catholic

Identifying himself as a Catholic, Uthmeier argued that while Florida law permits a religious school “to claim an exemption from the requirement to grant religious exemptions if granting such an exemption would violate the religious tenets of the school,” Catholic schools have no “legitimate religious reason to refuse.”

“Failure to comply could jeopardize eligibility for state educational scholarship programs,” he wrote. “If the Conference nevertheless refuses to comply with Florida law, then please state clearly the religious grounds on which Catholic schools may force persons to take vaccines derived from abortions against their deeply held moral and religious objections.”

But Garnett said, “the attorney general presumes, ‘as a Catholic,’ to second-guess the orthodoxy of the Catholic bishops’ determination regarding policies for Catholic schools and the morality of certain childhood vaccines.” 

“However, it is not remotely the role of a government official, even a Catholic one, to tell the bishops what to teach or how to run the Church’s apostolates,” Garnett said. “It is certainly not up to him to decide whether the Catholic bishops’ reasons are ‘legitimate.'”

Garnett said Uthmeier “should withdraw the letter and apologize publicly for creating confusion on such important matters.”

‘Clear violation of First Amendment’

“For a government official to threaten official punishments — and to jeopardize the ability of parents in Florida to choose Catholic schools for their children — on the basis of his own — in this case, mistaken — interpretation of Catholic teaching is a clear violation of the First Amendment and other legal religious-freedom protections,” Garnett said.

“If a parent objects to these vaccines, which the Church teaches are morally permissible and which clearly serve the common good of the community, they may move their children to state-run schools,” Garnett continued. “No one has a ‘right,’ however, to require a Catholic school to conform with his or her own private judgments.”

Uthmeier’s letter to the bishops was addressed to Michael Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. A spokesperson for FCCB told OSV News that the conference was reviewing Uthmeier’s letter and planned to respond by Aug. 7, the date he requested. Uthmeier referenced a diocesan document that appears to have been taken offline as of Aug. 3, which he said cited the National Catholic Bioethics Center as stating that Catholic schools cannot grant an exception since the Church does not view these vaccines as intrinsically evil. 

Documents on NCBC site do not appear to make such a claim

However, documents on the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s website do not appear to make such a claim. But they do state the church’s position that Catholics may undergo vaccination despite a remote connection to cell lines where no alternatives exist. However, they argue Catholics should do so “under protest,” and encourage the development of ethical cell lines. 

OSV News asked a spokesperson for the National Catholic Bioethics Center for comment but had not yet received comment as of publication.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, shortly before vaccines first became available to the general American public, the Holy See’s Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, Catholic bishops and theologians including NCBC all released statements that the COVID-19 vaccines were morally permissible for Catholics to receive.

Bishops encouraged Catholics to seek some vaccine brands over others

Those statements varied only slightly, as the U.S. bishops encouraged Catholics, where they had such a choice, to seek some brands of vaccines over others due to the varying degrees of remote connection to such cell lines. 

Neither the Pfizer nor Moderna COVID-19 vaccines used those cell lines for producing their mRNA vaccines; however, they did involve testing using the HEK-293 cell line, which is believed to have been derived from aborted fetal cells in the 1970s. However, that line has been commonly used in testing a vast array of modern drugs, such as Advil and Tums. Novavax did not use fetal cell lines in either the production or testing of its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

When the Pope prayed alone in St. Peter's Square

 March 27, 2020: Pope prays for world in empty St Peter's Square

On March 27, 2020, Pope Francis presided over an extraordinary moment of prayer for the end of the coronavirus pandemic. In a deserted and rainswept St. Peter's Square, the Pope begged the Lord to heal our wounded humanity, reminding us that “nobody is saved alone".

March 27, 2020: Pope prays for world in empty St Peter's Square - Vatican News

An empty St. Peter's Square and the pastor in tune with the world

Our Editorial Director, Andrea Tornielli, reflects on the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis' historic 'Statio Orbis' prayer, which he held on March 27, 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Andrea Tornielli

Five years have passed since Pope Francis ascended the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica alone. It was raining that evening.

The square was dramatically empty, even though millions of people around the world were tuned in to him, glued to their television screens, still locked inside the long quarantine of the lockdown, frightened by the invisible virus that was claiming many victims, taking them away to the intensive care units of hospitals, without relatives being able to see them, greet them, or even hold funerals for them.

With that gesture, with that prayer, and with the daily Mass from the Chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, the Successor of Peter made himself close to everyone. He embraced all of them in the emptiness of the square, in the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament, in the simple act of kissing the feet of the crucifix, which seemed to weep because it was exposed to the harsh weather of an inclement early spring evening.

"I was in contact with the people. I was never alone at any moment," the Pope would later recount. Alone, but not by himself, praying for a lost world. It was a powerful, unforgettable image that marked his papacy.

On that occasion, Pope Francis addressed God saying: "You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others." In the following months, he would repeat that "a crisis never leaves us the same, never. We come out better or we come out worse."

Five years later, looking around, it is impossible to claim that we have come out better, with a world shaken by the violence of the lords of war, who focus on rearmament instead of fighting hunger.

We are no longer in quarantine, and now the situation has reversed: the square is filled with people celebrating the Jubilee, while the Bishop of Rome, who prays for us and for peace from his room at the Casa Santa Marta, is absent, convalescing from a serious pneumonia.

Yet, that connection has not been broken, and his words from that day are more relevant than ever: even today, especially today, it is "the time to choose what counts and what passes."

to the Covid-19 Pandemic on March 

Has the Communion Chalice returned to your Church?

 

The pandemic is officially over, but will Communion

chalices make a comeback at Mass?

CHICAGO (OSV News) — After the federal government declared a health emergency in 2020 over the COVID-19 pandemic, Catholic churches in the U.S. scrambled to figure out how to provide the Eucharist, the sacrament that is the “source and summit of the Christian life” while keeping people safe from contagion.

In that process, most Catholic churches decided to suspend the Communion chalice at Mass, while allowing people to receive just the host. That prudential judgment by church officials to restrict holy Communion to just one kind only was possible for Catholics, because the church teaches Jesus Christ is “wholly and entirely present” — body, blood, soul and divinity — in the Eucharist. Whether one receives either the host, the body of Christ (which retains the appearance of bread), or the blood of Christ (which retains the appearance of wine) at holy Communion, that person receives the same Christ and can “receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace.”

But the Catechism of the Catholic Church also teaches “the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly.”

By the time the federal government completely lifted all health restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2023, Catholics were routinely receiving the host, the body of Christ, at holy Communion.

While some dioceses allowed distribution of the blood of Christ from the Communion chalice as early as June 2022, residual fears about the virus have left their mark long after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the risk of COVID-19 contagion from surfaces was actually low and that vaccination was the most effective protective measure against contracting the airborne disease.

With the exception of Eastern Catholic churches (where Catholics receive the Eucharist under both kinds commingled from the priest), the return of the faithful routinely receiving the blood of Christ in Communion chalices has proceeded far more slowly in parishes of the Latin Church.

“I was looking forward for it to come back,” said Edward Zampinella, who receives Communion under both kinds at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Chicago. The pastor there confirmed to OSV News that his parish started to distribute the blood of Christ again at weekly Mass in mid-May.

Zampinella, 67, told OSV News he has been receiving the Eucharist from the Communion chalice “for as long as I’ve been living” but that he had to stop during the pandemic.

“With COVID people got scared and stuff. Now it’s coming back. People are coming out of their shells. Some people are still a little scared, but we (should) just be an example, make people feel comfortable” receiving the blood of Christ again, he said.

During the pandemic, hesitant reception of the blood of Christ raised concern among church officials that the practice of offering holy Communion under both kinds to the faithful might go by the wayside in churches. The Washington-based Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions included in a February 2024 survey, answered by 99 (arch)dioceses nationwide, a question of whether offering the Communion chalice has been “restored to the faithful.” It found 50 said “yes,” but 47 left it up to individual pastors to decide and two said “no.” (There are 196 archdioceses and dioceses in the United States.)

Rita Thiron, the federation’s executive director, told OSV News in an email, “as the pandemic fears lessened, there was a fear that the distribution of the Precious Blood would be restricted, lost or forgotten. Many in the church hierarchy, diocesan leaders and parish priests were anxious to restore the cup to the faithful after the pandemic — for theological, liturgical and pastoral reasons.”

At Sacred Heart Church in Prescott, Arizona, associate pastor Father Gaspar Masilamani said his church started to offer Massgoers the blood of Christ again at the end of December last year. He said Sacred Heart is just one of five parishes in the fast-growing Phoenix Diocese that offer Communion under both kinds.

Claretian Father Masilamani told OSV News that after the pandemic disrupted church life, when the Vatican in September 2020 urged a return to in-person Mass participation as soon as anti-COVID measures permitted, the parish wanted to take part. After receiving multiple requests to return to offering the Communion chalice to communicants and seeking feedback from parishioners, the parish reinstated it.

“Honestly, I was thrilled. Especially whenever I finish Mass, people come up and they say, ‘Wow, we are really happy and are privileged that we started this,'” he said. The priest noted seeing in the faithful “that emotional and sentimental satisfaction of getting both species” in holy Communion.

Father Michael Witczak, a liturgy and sacramental theology professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, said that receiving holy Communion under both kinds speaks to the integrity of the church as the body of Christ.

“To receive Communion under both kinds is a reinforcement of the underlying unity of the body of Christ,” Father Witczak explained to OSV News, “which is hierarchically organized: the bishops and the priests representing Christ the head for the local communicants and local congregations, but that all those who are baptized are members of the body of Christ and participate in their own way as … members of the church.”

Father Witczak pointed to different periods in the Latin Church’s history when the blood of Christ was not distributed to the lay faithful for various reasons, such as for not giving it proper dignity with careless distribution and the potential for spilling, stealing the chalice and also fears of infection from plague and disease.

At times in the Middle Ages, for example, Latin Church authorities stopped offering the chalice to the laity to prevent disrespect for the Eucharist. The Council of Constance in 1415 prohibited the use of the chalice for the laity. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) limited Communion for the faithful to reception of the body of Christ only.

But in 1963, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) issued the constitution on the sacred liturgy “Sacrosanctum Concilium” authorizing the reception of Communion under both kinds by the faithful. In the U.S., the bishops’ conference gave permission to distribute the Eucharist under both kinds during weekday Masses in 1970 and this was extended to Sundays in 1978.

“I’m glad for those who missed (the Communion chalice), that they are able to go back and have it,” said Elizabeth Watson, who assists in the distribution of holy Communion at St. Thomas the Apostle in Chicago. However, she told OSV News that when the blood of Christ was available again for the faithful, she decided to stop being involved in its distribution as a precaution.

“I don’t want to spill it or anything because it’s the precious blood. … You have to make sure to clean (the chalice) off and do something extra,” said Watson. Because she has grown physically unsteady due to declining health, she expressed concern over the possibility of not being able to carry out new health protocols of cleaning the lip of the chalice and turning it a specific way after each communicant receives the blood of Christ.

In Louisiana at least two dioceses brought back offering the Communion chalice in November 2022. In a statement sent to OSV News from the Baton Rouge Diocese, officials said since then, “those who regularly partook of the Precious Blood seem to have resumed their practice.”

“They value the ability to receive under both forms,” said Father Tom Ranzino, director of the diocese’s Office of Worship. “The full act of eating and drinking is in the tradition of the church the best way to do what Jesus said to do.”

But even after COVID, he recognized there is still some trepidation.

“The pandemic really shook up our Communion practice,” he said.

Father Nile Gross, director of the Office of Worship at the New Orleans Archdiocese, said anecdotally — as of this June — he estimated about 90% of the parishes in the archdiocese have brought back the blood of Christ for the faithful. But he suspected that not as many who used to receive it have gone back to receiving from the Communion chalice, likely due to residual fears from the pandemic.

At his church, St. Francis of Assisi in New Orleans, which started offering the chalice at Communion in June 2023, Father Gross told OSV News the Masses now have just two persons offering the blood of Christ to Mass goers. There used to be four at Communion before the pandemic.

“That we know of, in the year since we’ve brought it back … we have no even hints, or suggestions, that anyone has gotten sick from receiving the precious blood,” he said, “which goes with what we were hearing from health officials locally.”

UK Study on Covid Church Closures reveals much mental and physical harm

 

Church lockdown closures caused widespread mental and physical harm, says survey

Simon Caldwell

The closure of Catholic churches during the 2020 lockdown contributed to widespread mental and physical suffering, according to the results of a new study.

The survey carried out by the Catholic Union found 62 per cent of people reporting that their mental and physical wellbeing were adversely effected directly as a result of not being able to go to church.

The poll of 1,000 Catholics also found that 90 per cent believe places of worship should be treated as “essential” services alongside food shops and healthcare facilities in any future pandemic, meaning they would not be forced to close.

Catholic Union president Baroness Hollins of Wimbledon, a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, described the results as “shocking”.

She said: “These results are distressing. They confirm that the lockdown of churches was not only hugely unpopular, but had a real impact on people’s wellbeing.

“The increase in the number of people feeling lonely or depressed as a direct consequence of the closures is particularly shocking.

“It is vital that the Covid inquiry properly considers the decisions to close and reopen churches during the pandemic.

“There is a very strong sense that faith and faith communities were pushed to one side when decisions were made, and this needs to be addressed in the learning from the Inquiry.

She added: “It’s clear from these results that places of worship should never be forced to close again.”

To prevent the spread of Covid-19, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales suspended the celebration of public Masses from March 20, 2020, the same day the Government closed the schools.

The churches were closed completely after Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced the first lockdown on March 23, and remained closed until July – seven weeks after garden centres and construction worker were allowed to resume their services.

They were put in the same higher-risk category as pubs, cinemas, hairdressers and beauty salons because the Government claimed social distancing within them would be difficult at a time of elevated risk of infection.

The survey by the Catholic Union represents the first major study of Catholic attitudes towards the closure of churches during the pandemic and the impact it had on people’s health.

One responder described the church closures as “one of the most distressing experiences of my life”.

Another said: “I became very depressed – it felt a part of me was missing.”

Another said: “I live alone and going to daily mass is the most important event in my life.”

Other findings from the survey include:

•           Only 25 per cent of responders thought that it was necessary to close churches and other places of worship by law at the start of the pandemic

•           93 per cent of responders did not think that politicians gave enough consideration to people’s faith when making decisions during the pandemic

•           89 per cent of responders said that it was unhelpful having different legal restrictions on churches across different regions and nations of the UK

The survey also found a resilience in Mass attendance, with less than 10 per cent of people saying that they go to church less frequently or not at all since the pandemic.

The Catholic Union will use the results from the survey to inform its evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which is currently taking evidence from senior politicians and advisers including Mr Johnson.

The study puts further pressure on Baroness Hallet, the chair of the inquiry, to properly consider the decisions around the closure and reopening of places of worship during the pandemic.

Last month, Lord Greenhalgh of Fulham, the Minister responsible for faith and community during the first lockdown, said that the decisions to close places of worship was “outrageous” and in a Tweet said that defending church lockdowns was a “ministerial low” for him.

He said that churches and other places of worship were closed because “people at the heart of power did not understand faith”.

At the start of the pandemic, the bishops of England and Wales were hoping that the churches might stay open for private prayer.

Confessions, even in open air, were also prohibited and from April 2020 priests were told to counsel patients with coronavirus by telephone rather than give them the Sacrament of the Sick in person.

The numbers of mourners at funerals were also drastically limited, and baptisms, confirmations and first Holy Communions all put back.

Most dioceses live-streamed liturgies from empty cathedrals and some parish churches and invited the faithful to watch such Masses each Sunday and make a “spiritual communion” at home.

The bishops successfully appealed against the churches being subjected to a complete lockdown during the second wave of restrictions in 2021.

Mass attendance dwindled in the aftermath of the lockdown, however, and some apostolates, such as the Catholic Press, suffered severely.

Besides the prohibition of public Mass during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, the only time when English Catholics were denied access to the sacraments was between 1208 and 1214 when Pope Innocent III froze public worship to punish King John for refusing to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury.

What did the Catholic Church learn from the Covid pandemic

 

As COVID’s emergency phase ends, Catholic experts share takeaways

(OSV News) — Dr. Paul Carson remembers when COVID-19 first commanded his attention: In late February 2020, the virus swept through a Washington state nursing home, ultimately killing dozens of its residents. Carson — a doctor and infectious disease specialist — was the medical director of a North Dakota nursing home. He put precautions in place, expecting his expertise to make the nursing home the safest in his state. Instead, it was the first to be hit.

“Within a matter of a few weeks, the first wave killed about a fourth of all our residents. It was devastating,” said Carson, a Catholic who teaches in the department of public health at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

As of late May 2023, COVID-19 has taken more than 6.9 million lives around the globe, including more than 1.1 million in the United States.

However, the numbers of COVID cases, hospitalizations and related deaths have waned, with deaths the lowest they have been since the pandemic began, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After declaring COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020, the World Health Organization announced an end to its emergency phase May 5, calling the virus “now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”

Carson said the decision is appropriate. “It’s a lot more manageable now through vaccinations and medications available to us,” he said of COVID.

As the world marks this milestone, Carson and other Catholics say there are important takeaways for the church as it considers its ministry now and prepares for future pandemics, given the realities of international travel and trade.

States implement COVID-19 shutdowns, church suspend public Masses

COVID-19 — short for “Coronavirus Disease 2019” — was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and the virus was likely responsible for deaths in the United States a month later. In March 2020, as COVID’s reach became apparent, states began to implement shutdowns in hopes of stopping, or at least slowing, its rapid spread. Schools and offices closed, and education and work went remote. “Essential workers” adapted their jobs. In the middle of Lent, U.S. bishops began to call on their dioceses’ parishes to close churches and suspend public Masses, dispensing Catholics from their obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Pastors and parish employees pivoted to livestreamed Masses and social media to connect with congregations.

After initial stay-at-home-style recommendations were lifted, Masses moved outdoors and to parking lots, and confessions were heard through car windows. Priests volunteered to anoint the dying, and learned from medical experts how to safely don and doff personal protective equipment. Liturgical experts sought creative ways to validly offer the sacrament under the ever-evolving circumstances.

Speaking in front of an empty St. Peter’s Square March 27, Pope Francis offered a special Urbi et Orbi (“To the City and to the World”) blessing, usually reserved for Christmas and Easter. He encouraged “embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.” The message was delivered amid a steady rain, underscoring the solemnity of what, for many Catholics, was a poignant moment that made for a lasting memory.

In May 2020, states began reopening businesses, restaurants and public venues at dramatically reduced capacity, and dioceses followed suit, recommending Masses be offered with limited attendance, masking and social-distancing requirements, no singing and Communion only under one form.

Ease of public space restrictions did not apply to churches

In the months that followed, public spaces restrictions eased — but, for churches and other religious spaces, not always without a fight.

In many cities and states, businesses and bars faced looser restrictions than houses of worship. In Nevada, for example, casinos were allowed to reopen at 50% capacity, but churches were not. Similar scenarios played out in California, Minnesota and elsewhere, including Rhode Island, where Dr. Timothy Flanigan — an infectious disease doctor who teaches at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and practices at affiliated hospitals, as well as a Catholic deacon in the Diocese of Providence — works. He served as an expert for many churches making their case to civil authorities for treatment on par with other public places.

“Many authorities did not value the sacraments and prayer and worship, so therefore they actively prevented it, even though they allowed other gatherings,” he told OSV News May 19.

Doctors pleased with the Catholic Church’s response to COVID

Flanigan worked in the hospital during the height of COVID and saw firsthand the suffering of the sick and the heroism of health care workers, particularly the bedside nurses.

“I was both very proud of many of my colleagues, both in medicine and in the church, who became involved despite the fear that existed,” said Flanigan, who contributed to the guidance offered by the Thomistic Institute in Washington for providing the sacraments during the pandemic in accord with WHO standards. “That is in the tradition of both people of Catholic faith and the institution of medical care providers.”

Carson, who advised both state officials and the Fargo Diocese in its COVID response, said he was pleased overall with how the institutional church responded to the pandemic. “I felt they truly strived to strike the balance between following the science as it evolved, ensuring the safety and solidarity with one another (a public health goal), while still ministering to the spiritual needs of the faithful,” he said.

Doctor appreciates guidance on the moral and ethical questions surrounding vaccination

He also appreciated the guidance the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) offered to help Catholics navigate the moral and ethical questions surrounding vaccination. Cell lines derived from aborted fetal cells were used in the research and development of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and in the production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, prompting Catholics to question whether to take them.

The CDF (since renamed the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) issued a statement in December 2020 saying that in absence of an ethically created COVID vaccine, “it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process,” because “the moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation (with evil) is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent.”

The CDF also said that vaccination should, however, be voluntary, and that people who refuse the vaccines for reasons of conscience must also take steps to avoid transmitting it.

Despite the CDF statement, the morality surrounding vaccination persisted among Catholics as deeply controversial. Some Catholics sought letters from their bishops supporting their religious exemption from vaccination.

“The (church’s) formal statements on vaccines were thoughtful and balanced our responsibilities to care for ourselves and one another, while still respecting an individual’s conscience,” Carson said. “One thing that I think could have been better would be to provide greater clarity on what constitutes true matters of conscience for a Catholic weighing whether to take a vaccine or follow a work-required mandate.”

Reopening happened at different paces throughout the U.S.

As church leaders sought to provide the sacraments and continue ministry during the pandemic, the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC) in Washington served as a clearing house for diocesan and parish liturgists advising their bishops and pastors.

Rita Thiron, FDLC executive director, remembers the flurry of conversations in spring 2020, especially as Holy Week approached. The organization shared daily information from the Vatican, canon lawyers, dioceses and church-affiliated institutions, and as Catholics returned to Masses, it continued to help church leaders navigate evolving best practices that considered both public health and spiritual needs.

While dioceses around the country seemed to “shut down” all at the same time, reopening happened at different paces, Thiron said. In some places, it was nearly business as usual in the summer of 2020, although U.S. dioceses did not begin lifting the dispensation from Sunday Mass obligations until 2021. By contrast, Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago were not obligated to return to Mass until November 2022, although archdiocesan leaders had encouraged Catholics to return to Masses months before.

Parishes back to pre-pandemic practices

Today, parishes are likely to be back to pre-pandemic practices, including extending the sign of peace and offering both the body and blood of Christ at Communion, but it has taken three years to get there, Thiron said. For parishes not yet distributing the Eucharist under both forms, “I hope that that is restored to the fullest sign of the sacrament very, very, very soon.”

“I hope the thing we learned most is that we all hungered for the Eucharist,” Thiron said. “I know how meaningful it was to hold that Host in my hands again after a long time, and recently to receive the Precious Blood after a very, very long time.”

In June 2021, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which was hit particularly hard by the virus, became one of the first U.S. dioceses to reinstate the Sunday Mass obligation. Advising his fellow priests through that transition was Father Juan Ochoa, who directs the archdiocese’s Office for Divine Worship. Also the pastor of Christ the King Parish in Hollywood, Father Ochoa had balanced his archdiocesan leadership role with his parish responsibilities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Keeping connections with parishioners during COVID-19

Keeping connections with parishioners was key. He placed a copy of his parish roster by the tabernacle, and he, parish staff and volunteers reached out to members by phone, email and letters to see what people needed. They hosted a food drive and made pharmacy runs. They livestreamed Mass and organized weekly prayer services to bring people together — especially those who, even before the pandemic, were lonely and isolated, whose only communal meal each week had been donuts after Mass.

“What do you do as a mom when your children are sick? You’re there with them. You are providing medicine. You are being present to them,” Father Ochoa said. “We say that the church is a mother, and we need to be a mother for our parishioners.”

He also encouraged his flock to look to the saints. In the history of the church, plagues gave rise to great saints, including St. Cyprian, St. Roch, St. Sebastian, St. Charles Borromeo, and much more recently, Knights of Columbus Founder Blessed Michael McGivney, who died at the height of his ministry during a flu outbreak in 1890, and St. Damien of Malokai, who lived and eventually died among those with leprosy in Hawaii.

Father Ochoa: Catholics scored ‘very low’ in Christian response to COVID-19

In light of these models, Father Ochoa thinks Catholics generally scored “very low” in their Christian response to COVID-19. Instead of looking to faith, many Catholics turned to the media “to dictate how to be a church,” he said.

“It was a moment that everyone was fearful. Everyone was dealing with the unknown. That was an opportunity for us to proclaim Christ as our hope,” he said.

Practically, that could have included Catholics embracing vaccination as a witness to love of neighbor, said Carson, the doctor in Fargo. He was disappointed in the “my body, my choice” attitude and rhetoric, commonly used to defend abortion, used instead to justify non-vaccination, including by pro-life Catholics.

“Of course, we as Christians, it isn’t our body, it’s God’s body. We look at what we do and how we act as affecting others, and we need to be the leaders in self-sacrificing for others,” he said.

Father Ochoa said Christians “don’t allow fear to dictate how we live our life.” It’s like a dance, he said, where faith and fear are partners. “The one that has to be leading the dance … has to be faith, not fear.”

Hit hard by Hurricane Ida and the pandemic, this small Louisiana church community in Des Allemands prays for good news from the Archdiocese of New Orleans

 

As St. Gertrude awaits news from Archdiocese, church community sticks together

The tight-knit community at St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church will celebrate Easter together this year, and the hope is that this continues for the year after and the one after that, and so on.

But nothing is guaranteed – it’s been a struggle for the Des Allemands church, one only compounded since Hurricane Ida and COVID-19.

In 2022, the Archdiocese told parishioners that the church would undergo a feasibility study to see whether it is viable for the parish to remain open. St. Gertrude Pastor Fr. Ray Hymel said it isn’t likely the church will receive an answer to that question until at least the summer.

“The decision isn’t up to us,” Hymel said. “We’re waiting for the Archdiocese to give us that answer. There are 15 other churches in the Archdiocese in the same situation.”

According to Hymel, the church’s attendance has steadily  been in decline for more than a decade, and the Archdiocese study was on the way regardless of Hurricane Ida. Ida left the church significantly damaged. Insurance and rebuilding costs have set the church parish back greatly, and in fact its facilities are still not back to use: it largely has one truly operable building, where it is able to hold its weekly mass.

“We have an outdoor pavilion that lets us be self-sufficient for things … but no bathroom facilities, or kitchen facilities. Our numbers are lower, staff as well … we can’t do what we were doing before with our cooking fundraisers,” Hymel said.

Chief among those fundraisers is its largest annual fundraiser, the three-day Louisiana Catfish Festival, which has been sidelined for three years because of Ida and COVID-19. The event provides the great bulk of funding for the church and has long been a very popular outing for families in St. Charles Parish.

The plan was to bring it back in September of 2021, but rising COVID-19 cases spoiled that. In 2022, Ida spoiled any comeback thoughts.

The festival was established in 1975 by Rev. William McCallion as a fundraiser for St. Gertrude. The church was set to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the festival in 2020, but pandemic cancelled that celebration. To make up for lost revenue – the festival brought in an average of $40,000 a year – local parishioners including Catfish Festival organizer Sheena Candies pivoted to organizing craft fairs to keep the church afloat. The plans were to hold a one-day festival with no rides but with the traditional fair foods and bands prior to the cancellation.

Hymel said the festival is in limbo for now, hinging on the Archdiocese decision – planning a festival of that scale wouldn’t be viable with so much uncertainty surrounding it.

The question the Archdiocese is attempting to answer is whether the church parish can support itself financially and whether the size of its congregation justifies continuing on.

“It’s a big red flag if you don’t have enough parishioners … if you don’t have enough people to do things or support the parish,” Hymel said. “The Catfish Festival has been a very important cultural event since 1975, but it can’t be the only means of support … it’s not just a question of financially keeping the doors open.”

The good news is the church’s attendance has not starkly declined since prior to Ida. But more of a factor has been the community-wide decline for Des Allemands over the years, something shared by many other towns locally.

“It affects the Catfish Festival in a major way. Between 1975 and 2005,there  was a much bigger population, but not anymore,” Hymel said.

In lieu of the Catfish Festival and other cooking fundraisers, the church has turned to craft fundraisers to make ends meet.

The upcoming Easter Egg-stravaganza vendor and craft show is one such change-up made by the St. Gertrude brain trust. Featuring crafts, prizes and a 50/50 raffle, the Easter Egg-stravaganza is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 23 at 17292 Highway 631 in Des Allemands. Covered and non-covered vendor and craft booth spots are available starting at $30 while garage sale booths are also available. For information about vendor opportunities and applications, one may contact Sheena Candies at 985-520-1541 or sheenacandies@icloud.com.

The church has been able to restore a few longtime traditions  through all of the difficulties. In December, the St. Gertrude community  held  its annual veteran memorial service where area residents come together to recognize and honor those who passed in the previous calendar year. That was also a practice that had been relegated to the sidelines over the past two years due to COVID-19 and Hurricane Ida.

A full room’s worth of residents were in attendance recently, eager to bring the event back for the first time since 2019. Thirty-one names were called out and honored at the service, which recognized all known veterans who have passed over the years it was not held.

As St. Gertrude awaits news on its fate, Hymel said the best way parishioners can help is to continue showing support.

“We’re a very tight-knit community,” Hymel said. “The congregation that still gathers with us is very faithful, loyal and supportive. Continuing that and keeping us where we are right now helps tremendously.”

Church attendance continues to take a hit post pandemic

 

In pandemic’s wake, churchgoing takes a hit, survey indicates

   By Kevin J. Jones for CNA

Denver, Colo., Jan 9, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The percentage of Americans who attend religious services is now “significantly lower” than before the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among young people and other groups identified as less likely to regularly attend, a new survey indicates.

“The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted much of American society, including religious worship,” said a January 2023 report on the survey “Faith After the Pandemic” from the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life.

“Rather than completely upending established patterns, the pandemic accelerated ongoing trends in religious change. Young people, those who are single, and self-identified liberals ceased attending religious services at all at much higher rates than other Americans did.”

“At least in terms of religious attendance, the pandemic appears to have pushed out those who had maintained the weakest commitments to regular attendance,” the American Enterprise Institute report said.

As of spring 2022, 33% of Americans said they never attend religious services, up from 25% before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic in March 2020. Religious affiliation, though, is largely unchanged, according to the survey.

The results come from researchers at the NORC at the University of Chicago, who conducted the 2022 American Religious Benchmark Survey on behalf of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

The pre-pandemic responses about religious practice came from 9,425 randomly selected interviewees who participated in NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel from the period 2018 to March 2020. The same interviewees were surveyed again from February to April 2022.

Among white Catholics, the percentage of those who do not attend religious services increased from 11% to 18%. Hispanic Catholics who never attend increased from 10% to 20%. Almost half of Catholic respondents continued to say they attended religious services “infrequently,” the survey found.

However, consistent Mass-goers tended to continue their churchgoing habits. The percentages of white Catholics and Hispanic Catholics who regularly attend religious services now compared with before the pandemic were relatively unchanged at 30% and 23%, respectively.

The groups most likely to attend religious services, and to attend regularly, are political conservatives, adults age 50 and older, women, married adults, and people with a college degree. Their frequency of attendance was “largely similar” to before the pandemic and spring of 2022, the AEI report said.

Young people, political liberals and moderates, and Americans without a college degree were the most likely groups not to attend religious services before the pandemic and as of spring 2022.

The habits of the young adult population, those aged 18–29, showed significant changes. About 30% of young adults attend religious services less often now, while only 12% are more religiously active compared with before the pandemic.

The survey found relatively little changes in church attendance among Mormons, white evangelical Christians, and Jews.

Nineteen percent of adults changed religious affiliation between March 2020 and March 2022, 6% were unaffiliated before the pandemic but are now affiliated, and 5% had a religious affiliation but now are not. Twice as many adults decreased religious attendance than increased attendance.

The observed changes could mean that religious affiliation tells us less about Americans and their religious beliefs and theological commitments, the AEI report said. The changes could mean more polarization between regular attendees of religious worship and their self-identified co-religionists.

“Past research has shown that Americans who regularly attend services are more likely to embrace the formal tenets of their faith and share a similar cultural worldview as their coreligionists,” the report said.

The AEI report appears to set the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2022. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not declared an end to the pandemic, and some localities are reimplementing some public health measures in response to trends.

As of Jan. 6, 1,091,184 people have died of the virus in the U.S. More than 10,000 people have died in the last four weeks, and over 41,400 are currently hospitalized, according to the CDC website. Hospitalization numbers have been rising since November.

Older people, pregnant women, or people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk from infection.

The arrival of the pandemic resulted in many bans on public gatherings and other changes. Some churches fully shut down in compliance with public authorities, while others sought to adapt through outdoor services or internet outreach. Some congregations fully rebelled against legal regulations.

After the first waves of the pandemic, legal challenges to restrictions on public worship tended to prevail in court, especially when religious gatherings were treated more strictly than similar gatherings.