Catholics must go back to church in person starting June 5, N.J. bishops say – NJ.com

The free pass Catholics received to skip in-person church services during the coronavirus pandemic is ending next month, New Jersey’s bishops said.

Catholics in all five of the state’s dioceses are expected to return to attending weekly Masses starting the weekend of June 5-6, church officials said in a statement Thursday.

The New Jersey bishops are lifting a dispensation on attending weekly Masses in person that has been in place since the start of the pandemic, when most Catholic churches began live-streaming Masses on their websites or social media.

“At this time, due to the observance of public safety protocols and the increase in the availability of vaccines, we have begun a return to some sense of normalcy in various sectors of our society,” according a statement signed by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the head of the Archdiocese of Newark, and the bishops of the dioceses of Trenton, Metuchen, Passaic and Camden.

The statement was also signed by the bishops of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, which has more than 80 parishes, and the Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Diocese, which has nine parishes.

“This obligation does not apply to those who are ill; those who have reason to believe that they were recently exposed to the coronavirus or another serious or contagious illness; those who are confined to their home, a hospital, or nursing facility; or those with serious underlying health conditions,” the statement said.

No exceptions are being made for healthy adults or children who are not vaccinated. However, the bishops said parishioners should speak to their local pastor if they have questions about whether they are obliged to attend in-person Masses.

Safety protocols, including social distancing and wearing masks during Mass, will remain in place in New Jersey Catholic churches, the bishops said. The restrictions limiting how parishioners receive communion will also continue.

Gov. Phil Murphy has already lifted capacity limits for indoor religious services, weddings, funerals and memorial services. However, churches are still expected to enforce the indoor mask requirement and six feet of distance between family units indoors.

Some dioceses and parishes still have their own capacity limits. The Archdiocese of Newark, which includes Essex, Union, Bergen and Hudson counties, has an attendance limit of 150 people, or 25 percent of the church’s capacity, whichever is lower, a spokesman said.

New Jersey ranks as one of the most Catholic states in the nation, with more than a third of adults identifying as Catholic. Only Massachusetts and Rhode Island rank higher.

The state’s Catholic churches have more than 3.5 million parishioners, according to the New Jersey Catholic Conference.

Under the Canon law that governs the Catholic Church, the faithful are obliged to attend Mass in person weekly and on Holy Days, including Christmas and Easter. It is considered a “grave sin” to skip Mass without a valid reason, such as illness.

But New Jersey bishops quickly put a pause on that obligation in March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began.

Churches closed for months during the start of the pandemic before gradually reopening with low capacity limits and strict social distancing rules. Some churches began holding Masses outdoors.

Many parishes took a financial hit as attendance and donations dwindled. All five of New Jersey’s Catholic dioceses applied for taxpayer-funded loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program to help keep employees paid during the shutdown.

Some churches have had trouble getting some vaccinated parishioners to return, either because they still have health concerns or they have grown accustomed to skipping services or watching live-streamed Masses from home.

Catholic bishops across the nation have had differing opinions on when people should be required to return to in-person church. Some dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Detroit, told Catholics they should start returning to in-person Masses in March when vaccines were beginning to be widely available. Other dioceses in Texas and Wisconsin lifted the dispensation last fall, before anyone was vaccinated.

And some dioceses have kept their dispensations allowing people to skip in-person services, but said if Catholics are comfortable enough to go out to dinner in restaurants, they should be back at church.

In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan never officially gave Catholics in the Archdiocese of New York a dispensation to skip in-person Masses during the pandemic. Last month, with church attendance still significantly down, he implored Catholics to return to the pews if they had no serious health concerns.

“But for the majority of us — are we going to restaurants? To the kids’ soccer and little league games? To the store? To the beauty parlor? To gatherings with family and friends?” Dolan wrote to parishioners. “Well, then, it’s time to get back to Mass.”

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.