Continuing to not go to Mass after dispensation lifted

[Jeanne_S]

None of which is the case currently. No singing,masks only 25%of capacity at any Mass.I think a lot of people have gotten comfortable with attending Mass in their pjs and coffee.

 

[1ke]

It’s would seem to me that if one isn’t attending Mass because they are fearful of exposure,then why is going out to eat,shopping etc.any less of a concern?

It may not be “less of a concern” but people literally have to go out to buy groceries.

 

[Jbrady]

I think a lot of people have gotten comfortable with attending Mass in their pjs and coffee.

And whenever they want, as well. It’s going to be difficult to entice them to attend Mass in church again.

A lot of the older ones will simply age out early. Younger people who were eventually headed for the exit anyway will just drop out, and just refuse to come back, no matter how much Mom and Dad pitch a fit. And it’s going to be hard to convince many families to get things together and be all in the same place at the same time when they have grown used to each doing their own thing at their own time.

Evangelicals are expecting a drop in attendance between a third and a half with a commensurate drop in donations. There’s no reason to expect things to be much different in our Church.

 

[Bernoulli]

If there is chance to celebrate Mass outdoors, I would take it. That would make it very low risk. It might be a mortification in a harsher weather, but that’s a mortification that doesn’t actually kill.

 

[OraLabora]

It may not be “less of a concern” but people literally have to go out to buy groceries.

Exactly. That, the pharmacy, and getting gas are my “shopping activities”. Sometimes I’m too lazy to cook, and I’ll get take-out. I’ll occasionally have a coffee with another high-risk friend.

And even gas isn’t that often: I filled my car in early March, and didn’t fill it again until June !!! The grocery store and pharmacy are only 10 km from home.

The dispensation here has not been lifted, and in group settings the limit is 25 people. When the restrictions were loosened in June, I would visit my kids in Montreal. It is now a red zone and I can no longer visit them. My wife is on the West Coast for a family matter until the end of November, and I’m finding the isolation tough. I’m high risk so I limit myself to the essentials. No abbey, no Mass, almost zero social contact.

But there’s no way you’ll find me at a sports event, a theatre or a crowded restaurant. I do cycle solo to keep fit and for my mental health.

 

[dochawk]

One statement he said,if you are going out to partake of other activities,you need to get back to in person Mass.

That’s a lot easier to say when you have large churches . . . mine is in a converted three car garage, which got extended a few feet along the long side when the Holy Place got added at the end . . .

I was there the first week we moved back inside (due to the heat), and it was downright terrifying . . . I’m going nuts without it, would go if it was just me, but the risk to my daughter’s life if I were to catch it is just too high . . .

None of which is the case currently. No singing,masks only 25%of capacity at any Mass.

So only several times more dangerous than a larger building where people are far more spread out . . .

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

The dispensation here has not been lifted,

Nor here; in fact, it was just extended “indefinitely” (disrupting my early argument somewhere on this forum that an end point was needed for dispensations).

 

[OraLabora]

Nor here; in fact, it was just extended “indefinitely” (disrupting my early argument somewhere on this forum that an end point was needed for dispensations).

Well remember that an institution that deals with eternity often has a different concept of time! My favourite: a new antiphonary was promised for the Liturgy of the Hours when it came out in 1970 “soon”. The second volume appeared… in 2010. The first (!!!) this year. That’s 40 and 50 years respectively. Go figure. (yes that order is correct, the volume for Vespers on Sundays, feasts and solemnities, Volume II, came out 10 years before the equivalent volume for Lauds, Volume I.)

I guess “indefinitely” is just one tick of the clock below “eternally”

 

[dochawk]

My favourite: a new antiphonary was promised for the Liturgy of the Hours when it came out in 1970 “soon”. The second volume appeared… in 2010.

That’s downright quick . . . the suspension of receiving under both species and the “witnessing” loophole for marriage vows both took 700 years to get around to fixing . . .

 

[Horton]

PaulinVA:

If the civil authority is only allowing 25% or 50% capacity in churches, then half the diocese, or more, theoretically, can’t attend Mass with regularity.

Well, to be fair, that assumes that churches are packed to capacity at every weekend and holyday Mass. That’s not at all the case in many (most?) churches

We really don’t have a percentage, but every other pew is roped off and only families can sit together. Others must sit apart. Our Masses are full, people do get turned away if there is no seating, they are told when the next Mass is and advised to be there early to get a seat.

pnewton:

At some point, a reasonable accommodation might be to increase the number of Masses.

Presuming you have a sufficient number of priests to celebrate those Masses.

We have added one Mass on Sundays.

If there are not enough priest to offer Mass enough for everyone to go, then it is not the time to life the dispensation. Another issue might be time, as disinfecting after each Mass before others enter takes a little time.

It does take time, it is also ruining the finishing on our pews.