Mass obligation (w/mask)

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My parish has not opened yet but guidelines are being sent to parishioners to prepare us for the eventual return.

One of the guidelines is the compulsory donning of masks. I personally am very uncomfortable wearing them, I get very anxious and experience chest pains.

Is it a sin to not attend mass because I don’t want to wear the mask?

We will be dispensed in my diocese, and all other social distancing rules will be enforced so seating will be limited, so if I choose not to register am I in the wrong for choosing to not receive the Eucharist?
 
You can ask your priest for a dispensation.

I know the bishop of my diocese has lifted the mass obligation so that people with underlying health problems which render them vulnerable to COVID 19 can stay home.
 
Where is wearing a mask in Mass forced upon a congregation? And by whom?
 
We have to wear the mask to our pew, but once in our pew we can take it off during Mass. If we leave the pew the mask goes back on. I myself work in the medical field and I feel so bad for all the clinical staff that have to wear their masks for 8 hours a day. This is very hard on them. Please pray for all our medical staff.
 
BTW, I feel very safe at Church.
If you can shop at Walmart, you can go to Church.
 
Our parish opened and a mask was required the entire time while inside, and no singing. At Divine Liturgy, the whole thing is sung.
 
Mrchatsworth said:
Really? I’m so surprised at the power displayed during this covid crisis from people who claimed not to have the power to enforce even dress codes at Mass for years.
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People don’t die or cause others to die by wearing a particular type of clothing. Apples and oranges… 🤷‍♂️

Besides which… there are no “dress codes” in canon law to be enforced. So, that’s a red herring right there.

So, is there a general unwillingness to ‘enforce’ personal preferences in dress? Yes… and that seems appropriate.
 
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Mrchatsworth said:
I’m so surprised at the power displayed during this covid crisis from people who claimed not to have the power to enforce even dress codes at Mass for years.
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They can’t enforce a dress code or even make you wear a mask, but they can go back to video Masses if public Masses are deemed unsafe. So let’s follow the safety rules. The virus is spread mainly by breathing, and it is thought to spread more efficiently by vocalization – talking or singing. It’s not about power.
 
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volturno said:
… choosing to not receive the Eucharist?
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Inquire of your parish office whether they offer the Eucharist outside of Mass for those like yourself who cannot attend Mass.
 
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The thing is that it’s different everywhere. What your diocese deems safe and mandatory my diocese views as a personal choice.
I guess in a time of crisis everybody is an expert!
 
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Mrchatsworth said:
Tell me, who have I killed because I don’t wear a mask. (We aren’t required). That may indeed have been a red herring, but the mask or people die argument is equally hyperbolic.
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Well, we’ll never know. If you come down with Covid and haven’t been wearing a mask, then the number of people you may kill depends on how many were exposed to you.
Mrchatsworth said:
I guess in a time of crisis everybody is an expert!
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Some dioceses are listening to actual medical and infectious disease experts, some are not. There is a growing trend in this country to dismiss genuine expertise in favor of whatever fits our personal narrative.

Actual experts are pretty ubiquitous in the recommendations about masks, particularly in enclosed spaces like churches.
 
Our parish is following the guidelines put forth by the Bishop, not the government. We wear masks the entire time we’re inside the church, briefly removing them to receive communion. Those uncomfortable wearing masks can watch the mass from home.
 
SusieQ57 said:
BTW, I feel very safe at Church.
If you can shop at Walmart, you can go to Church.
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Are you sure this is accurate? Because sitting in one place for an hour near other people is different than shopping and passing people briefly in aisles. Are you medically trained in contagious illnesses?
 
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I am a medical technologist (Microbiology) in a hospital lab.

We are required to wear masks from the time we get out of our car and walk into the hospital until the time we get back into our car after our shift.

Most of us in the lab believe there is no medical evidence to support wearing the mask, except for those health care workers and others who come into close face-to-face contact with patients who are fighting COVID-19 infection.

We wear the mask while working, but we take it off when we sit in the break room and eat our meals. We try to sit 6 feet apart, but the room is small.

And at least half of us take the mask off to talk!–we just can’t get used to talking from under a mask! ANd according to the “experts”, it’s the TALKING (and talkspit) that is supposed to infect others!

And yet, none of us have come down with COVID-19 (yet). And it would be impossible to attribute an infection to co-workers who didn’t have their mask on because we all have lives outside the hospital and there’s a good chance that we are being exposed in other settings–there’s no way to trace this back to our workplace!

But we wear it. We kind of like getting paychecks during a time when so many aren’t. It’s not worth getting fired over, although we are short-staffed due to a furlough policy that SHOULD only apply to hospital departments that are slow, but because the EXPERTS want to be fair across the boards, the idiotic policy applies to all the departments, and so the lab is working very dangerously short-staffed.

So called “experts” really yank my chain!
 
So, true but for me, I will take the risk. No I am not trained in contagious illnesses, but take all precautions suggested by the CDC. TV Church just is not the same and I missed receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I myself wear my mask while sitting in the pew, because of that fact. But, this is our new normal and I refuse to stay cooped up in my house. They keep saying we may have a vaccine in a year, but will it be safe? I feel we can’t stop living our lives. It could be a long time before we have a vaccine. Anyway, in different box stores , I have experienced people WITH OUT mask standing shoulder to shoulder with me looking at the same item. :roll_eyes: Not a lot of social distancing out in the stores in my area and you can’t control the people around you out in the public, so yes I still can say I feel safer sitting in a pew at Church, then shopping at Walmart etc.
 
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