You can skip Mass during coronavirus surge, largest Catholic archdiocese in US says
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles -- the nation’s largest Catholic archdiocese -- is telling its faithful they can skip Sunday Mass for awhile as concerns grow over the spread of the coronavirus.
Archbishop José H. Gomez posted the warning Friday, alerting his district’s Catholics that being at Sunday Mass may be risky as the pandemic grows in the number of infections and deaths around the world.
The Archdiocese of Detroit, which is also one of the nation’s 10 biggest, also announced Friday that it was “temporarily suspending all public Masses ... until Monday, April 6,” according to a Facebook post.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has 4.1 million Catholics, making it the largest in the nation, and the Archdiocese of Detroit has nearly 1.5 million, making it the seventh largest, according to Catholic-hierarchy.org.
Church officials in Los Angeles said they were not canceling Sunday Masses due to the virus. They’re just absolving the faithful of the obligation to be there.
“Recognizing the grave cause of the current public health emergency, Archbishop José H. Gomez has dispensed all the Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles ... from the obligation of attending Sunday Mass for the weekends of March 14-15, March 21-22, and March 28-29,” the archdiocese said in a release.
“Daily and Sunday Masses are to continue as usual, with accommodations for the recommended ‘social distancing,’ which is ... distance.”
The decision comes as congregations around the nation are making changes to fall in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including some that are switching to televised services.
Coronavirus cases spiked higher than they have in a month on Friday, with 9,100 new cases diagnosed in a day, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The CDC has warned that assembling in large groups can spread the disease “especially in poorly ventilated spaces.”
“Your risk of exposure to respiratory viruses like COVID-19 may increase in crowded, closed-in settings with little air circulation if there are people in the crowd who are sick,” the CDC says.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 12:15 PM with the headline "You can skip Mass during coronavirus surge, largest Catholic archdiocese in US says."