I've decided not to attend Mass for now

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Dispensations have been widely given. Not everyone is in an area which has active cases, but as the transmission spreads further, more and more areas are going to be affected, and more and more bishops will be giving a dispensation.
 
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I wasn’t. Because I chose to observe the request to avoid social contact. But if the priest doesn’t have six-foot long arms, I can’t figure out how one could possibly maintain the appropriate distance when receiving.
 
@esieffe, best wishes on your move. I hope all goes without a hitch for you and that you will be happy in your new home.
 
a priest is restricted to saying one Mass a day.

He may be given permission to say two.

Under special circumstances, he may be given permission to say 3 - and I have not heard of anyone being given permission to say 4.

In large parishes with one priest, most have permission to say 3, as there is such a shortage of priests.
 
Julian, I get your judgmental tone. Are you waiting for all who chose to attend Mass today to apologize to you? Do you want a personal mea culpa? Did we commit a sin in your eyes? How about God’s eyes? Mass is not cancelled in my area, and I chose to attend. That’s my right. Why not give it a rest? God bless you! 😁
 
Exactly. That’s why I so appreciate the bishops who’ve chosen to suspend Mass and protect their flocks. God bless them.
 
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That is very kind of you, thank you! I just worry if we won’t be on lockdown by then! March 30th is the closing.
 
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Thank you for sharing this! It’s so important for everyone to understand how this works!
 
I also have decided not to go to Mass right now. I am 68. I just recovered from
a terrible head cold. Fatigue is still a problem I am having. Not knowing if my
immune system could still be low and not wanting to get sick again, I decided it would be best to watch Mass on EWTN. Since I live alone and my son lives 2 1/2
hours away, it is not fun being very ill when you live alone.
 
The obligation was not formally suspended in the community I worshipped with today, however the tone of the instruction leaned heavily on the side of personal responsibility and prudence.

Before going, I had weighed the risk to myself and others. We are presently in a low risk area, though things can change even from day to day. I trust the bishop, the priests, the parishioners, to be proactive and prudent in relation to the present risk.

The level of risk is stated on the parish website, the bulletin, and was explained by the pastor. The emphasis was on the charitable act of staying home if having any symptoms or suspected contact, to prevent further spread of the virus.

There were fewer people in attendance. Extra precautions were evident. The homily and hymns spoke of God’s providence in the desert; though we were without holy water fonts, we witnessed the Baptism of four small children. It gave hope that we will indeed get through this crisis together.

Meanwhile as a part of the Body of Christ, we are still able to meet, for now, praying for and lifting up the prayers of those who are unable to attend the Eucharistic celebration.
 
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I have had a bad cough for 2 months, and have been staying home all that time. I really miss mass, but in my area there is now a dispensation and there are no public masses. (in Seattle) I got to watch our archbishop in the mass this morning on EWTN, which was a true blessing.
I have read some health care workers and scientists recently who are saying that masses should be cancelled throughout the country, because we are not really sure how the virus is spreading so fast and it is much more dangerous than the flu. So I am listening to them, and avoiding gatherings of all kinds.
praying for protection for all.
 
otjm said:
Under special circumstances, he may be given permission to say 3 - and I have not heard of anyone being given permission to say 4.
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A number of years ago, our priest regularly said 4 Masses on Sunday. We now have two priests, so we don’t have to worry about it much. But when one is off, the remaining priest still says 4.

Our local bishop hasn’t suspended Mass yet. We don’t have an obligation to attend, and our pastor seems to think it is much ado about nothing. And that we need to trust in God more. So I guess we’ll have to wait to see how it goes.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
No holy water (I miss it!),
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I realize that many can not do this now, perhaps church doors are locked or you are staying in or these have been emptied also, or it’s not being allowed, but just a little note, is most churches have a receptacle where laity can fill small bottles with holy water to take home.
 
Catfinger77 said:
I haven’t heard anything about a suspension of the obligation to attend mass.
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Check your diocese…our Bishop has requested Churches remain open for prayer, but ALL masses suspended until further notice…this is a dispensation of sorts, so if Masses have been cancelled in your area, don’t burden yourself with guilt.

On the positive note, our pastor is saying Mass on Sunday and the English and Spanish Masses, although with empty pews, are streamed live on the internet.
 
Well, I don’t intend to argue with your pastor, but the responses of just about every country in the world indicate that this is about an extremely contagious virus, and the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at greatest risk.

The young and the healthy are far less at risk of death. An additional complication is that a greater percentage of the population than just the elderly and the compromised are at risk of needing hospitalization, meaning they are seriously sick, and the hospitals are in danger of being overwhelmed - as they already are in some areas. One of the great needs for hospitals are ventilators, which are in seriously short supply; and for any hospital which needs more ventilators and does not have them, it will be triage time; those who are generally healthiest will get the ventilators, and the rest left to die. That is already occurring.
 
@otjm

The silver lining to the mass shutdowns and distancing/quarantining occurring is that in addition to starving out the novel coronavirus we are also starving out every other contagious disease in existence too, so in theory that should make a huge impact for the hospitals.

The million dollar question is what the actual figure is for how many people have the virus, which nobody knows but it’s obviously far higher than the official number.
 
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