RETURN OF THE FAITHFUL

SPRING 2021

Coming Home to Mass

Cardinal Dolan showers the faithful with holy water, Easter Sunday 2021, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. // Photo by Maria Bastone.

WE ALL REMEMBER HOW MASS USED TO BE, a little over a year ago. The pews filled with the faithful. Our voices joined in song. The handshake of peace. Fingers dipped in holy water. Embracing friends after the recessional.

Then a virus with a strange name turned hope and joy into fear and trepidation. Mass was suddenly off limits to the public. We pined for the Eucharist, but got accustomed to tuning in via TV or internet, seeing Mass play out in an eerily empty church. In the months since in-person Masses resumed, many of us have still not come back – though, as the weather warms, more and more are doing so.

For this feature, Archways consulted with pastors and public health experts to assess where we are on the path to pre-pandemic attendance levels, what we’ll have to do to make people feel safe, and what “normal” will look like even after the virus has been subdued.

Editor’s Update (June 4, 2021):

Recently, responding to new analysis from the CDC and local health officials, the Archdiocese of New York has issued new guidelines regarding Covid-19 precautions.

At each pastors’ discretion, Mass attendance at 100% is now permissible. Wearing of masks and social distancing in the pews is no longer mandatory for fully vaccinated worshippers and children who accompany them. (No proof of vaccination is required.) For the protection of the unvaccinated, those still at risk, and those who prefer to take a cautious approach, churches will set aside sections where mask-wearing and social distancing continue.

At all parishes, stringent sanitization procedures will be extended indefinitely. Holy water fonts will remain empty, the Precious Blood will not be offered at Communion, and the reception of the Eucharist by hand will be encouraged.

This news reflects a continued fall in infection rates and marks a perfect moment to return (for those who haven’t already done so) to the sharing of in-person Mass in our communities. (Check your parish’s website or call your parish office for details on how your pastor is implementing this new guidance.)

 

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LOCKDOWN

A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM

Clients line up to receive boxed provisions from a Catholic Charities of New York food pantry at Betances Houses in the Bronx. // Photo by Maria Bastone.

It seemed to happen without warning. At the beginning of March 2020, we were going to Mass as usual, taking our temperatures and washing our hands thoroughly. The notion of canceling the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was unthinkable – until it happened. And two days later came the announcement from the archdiocese:

(New York, NY) In light of the continued concern surrounding the coronavirus, and the advice of medical experts, all Masses in the Archdiocese of New York will be canceled beginning this weekend, March 14–15, 2020.

– Press release, March 14, 2020

For many New Yorkers, this was the moment we realized: Whoa, this is serious.

At the time, the total coronavirus death toll in New York State was two, and daily new cases less than 200. A month later, new cases had topped 10,000 per day. On April 13 alone, more than 1,000 New Yorkers died of Covid-19. The necessity of shutting down in-person Masses had become clear.

Meanwhile, the parishes and ministries of the Archdiocese of New York had sprung into action. ArchCare, working with local parishes and congregations of men and women religious, sent chaplains into quarantine to serve Catholics in the region’s hospitals. Catholic Charities of New York and its affiliated agencies, while observing health protocols, redoubled efforts to provide food, shelter and other critical assistance to those in need.
 

"THIS IS GOD HERE"

Fr. John J. Wroblevski livestreaming the 2020 Easter Vigil Mass from St. Anthony of Padua, Staten Island. // Photo by Mary DiBiase Blaich.

Many parishes held Mass in empty churches and provided a virtual experience to the faithful via livestream or video recordings posted online. Some also livestreamed holy hours or Eucharistic adoration or Bible readings. Among the hundreds of Facebook Live offerings around the archdiocese, St. Lawrence O’Toole in Brewster featured nightly “Psalm You to Sleep” readings, and Fr. Robert Dillon of St. Thomas the Apostle on Staten Island led parishioners in praying the rosary from his desk in the rectory.

Pastors also took their ministries out of doors, through parking-lot Masses,  drive-through confessions, displays of the Eucharist via a monstrance or tabernacle set in a doorway or window, or physically carrying the monstrance through the streets, bringing Jesus to the faithful when the faithful were unable to come to Him.

“Here in Millbrook, I took the Eucharist in the monstrance around the streets a number of times, just by myself, processing with Him to remind people that He is here,” says Fr. Hartley Bancroft, pastor at St. Joseph’s in Millbrook. “Other parishes did similar things, too. That was a great sign for people in the village that, yes, this is God here.”

Easter 2020 saw not just an empty tomb, but empty pews. Thousands tuned in for the live-stream from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

On May 21, 10 weeks after the closing of Masses, the archdiocese announced a plan to phase in reopenings over the coming weeks based on infection rates in each locality. All over the region, pastors saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They began making preparations to safely accommodate an onslaught of returning parishioners.
 

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SURVIVAL

BY THE NUMBERS

A moment of private prayer at Sacred Heart, Yonkers, June 2020. // Photo by Chris Sheridan.

When New York’s Catholic churches reopened for Mass in late spring 2020, the exact dates varied from region to region based on infection rates – but there was a consistency in the experience if not the exact timing. Fr. Eric Raaser, pastor of St. Margaret’s in Pearl River, refers to it as “that big disappointment in June.”

“Everybody, including myself, thought that the churches were going to be mobbed, with people standing outside waiting to get in,” he says. “Those numbers were way, way below the expectations of every pastor I talked to.” Turnout was low despite herculean efforts at sanitizing, marking pews to maintain social distancing requirements and educating the public about the measures being taken, including a strict “no mask, no Mass” rule. Respectable numbers of worshippers showed up, but no throngs.

In the ensuing weeks, attendance inched upward, but in many parishes it still hovers around 50% of the pre-pandemic number. Fr. Raaser estimates St. Margaret’s overall attendance at around 550 now in a good week; in 2019, the number was closer to 1,200.
 

THE FEAR FACTOR

Fr. Jose Cruz, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Inwood, talks to many parishioners who are still afraid of returning. “With Covid-19, a lot of our worst nightmares came true. A lot of people are still living in fear,” he said. “I know parishioners who are afraid even to go to the supermarket to buy groceries, but they have to. They say, ‘Father, I need to go to Mass but I am afraid.’” Fr. Cruz doesn’t pressure these worshippers: “I tell them, ‘Taking care of your life is something that you have to do. Because life comes from God.’”

The pandemic has been hard on Fr. Cruz’s community. “We all in one way or another have been affected and touched by this pandemic,” he says, but he still urges everyone to come back to Mass as soon as they can safely do so. “When we get used to following the Masses at home, something is lacking deep down: the spiritual connection that brings God through the community…. The risk that we face right now is getting used to having everything remote – the idea that your faith is not connected to others.”
 

COMFORT ZONE

For some, on the other hand, the fear and risk may have subsided and been replaced by a kind of inertia. “People are going to sporting events, going to the local pubs and restaurants,” Fr. Raaser observes. At that point, if someone is not returning to Mass, they may be drifting away from the faith.

“A lot of people don’t want to be bothered,” he says, so they just watch Mass at home. “Parents don’t want to fight with the kids…. We have wonderful families here, with three, four, five, sometimes six kids. To get everybody to church on time, it must be craziness.” Unfortunately, “The longer that we’re out of the obligation to go, the harder it is for people to readjust and get back to what they want to do.” 

And the easier it is to forget that, as Catholics, “We need the Eucharist for survival, for nourishment. It’s the source and summit of all our worship.”

Distributing Communion at St. Francis de Sales, Manhattan. // Photo by Ricardo Paiba.

 

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HOMECOMING

BRINGING THEM BACK

“We have a huge job ahead of us,” Fr. Cruz says. In order to bring back the faithful, he adds, “We will need to regroup and use tools that we might not have used before – social media, Facebook, YouTube – not just to get a message out, but to invite the people and welcome them back home. To me, this is very important: This is our home. So we all belong here.”

The first challenge will be to overcome irrational fear. “Jesus says, ‘Be not afraid,’ right?” Fr. Bancroft points out. “The devil wants people to be afraid. He wants to keep people away from the Eucharist. He works through fear, but God works through love, and perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love for our Lord and the Eucharist will bring us back to Mass and give us peace.”

New Yorkers who are already back attending Mass can tell you that parishes are looking out for the community’s health, rigorously following safety protocols. Some worshippers worry that, if too many came back, they would be crowded unsafely in the churches. In some parishes, to the pastors’ satisfaction, this is indeed becoming an issue - but fortunately, there are plans in place to address it.  

“The strategy I’ve been using has just been to offer more times and more options so that people can have room to spread out,” Fr. Bancroft says. As more worshippers return, he’ll be ready. “If I had our full number show up again this coming weekend, I would be more than happy, as I would be adding on Masses – driving myself bald, but it would be worth it because it would be bringing Jesus to people.” 
 

WHAT'S MISSING

Taking the Body of Christ to the streets in Crestwood for Corpus Christi Sunday, June 2020. // Photo by Chris Sheridan.

Pastors and clergy all over the archdiocese are reaching out to parishioners via livestream, bulletins, Flocknote and social media – and through in-person encounters in stores or on the streets – to answer questions and remind them why it’s important to come back.

Fr. Bancroft recounted a phone conversation he had with one family at St. Joseph’s. “They were saying, ‘We’ve been making sure to watch Mass on TV, but we feel like something’s missing.’ And I said to them, ‘Quite honestly, there is something missing. There’s something very different about watching someone on TV and really being in their presence – which is what happens at Mass. Because we believe that God is on that altar, present with us as Jesus.’ And ... they realized, ‘Yes, that’s right. We want to be back there with Jesus.’”

In addition to the Presence of Christ, there is the all-important sacrament of the Eucharist, which is only available in person. At St. Margaret’s, Fr. Raaser posed the question in a recent Flocknote column, “When was the last time you received the Lord in Holy Communion?” “For some, it’s been over a year now,” he said. “When I talk to kids in the school, I ask them that question, and if it’s months or years, that’s the tragedy of it.”

On the other hand, he adds, “This could be a great opportunity, when the people do start coming back to Mass, to reeducate them in what the Mass is all about, and the meaning of the Eucharist.” 
 

MEMBERS OF THE BODY

In Our Lady Queen of Martyrs parish, Fr. Cruz evangelizes at every opportunity. These days, that happens on a regular basis at the supermarket. “People recognize me – ‘Oh, Father!’ – and right away they are asking me questions. Sometimes I go just for bread and milk, something that I could do in five minutes, and I am there for half an hour or 45 minutes,” he said. “Maybe they say, ‘Hey, Father, I haven’t been to Mass’ and I say, ‘Well, I want to see you there. Remember, God is there, and he would like you to visit his house.’ … I feel it works best when you just touch people’s hearts and they feel welcomed and invited.”

“We are not islands to be isolated. We need others,” Fr. Cruz emphasizes, echoing the Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton. “So don’t be afraid to go to Mass, because in the church we will take care of you, number one. And number two, you will discover that when we are together, we know that we are all connected. Let us all take this opportunity to support one another.”

If you are absent from Mass, the loss is not just what you are missing from God and your fellow Christians – it’s also that you are missing from the community. Fr. Bancroft reminds us: “Each of us is a member of Christ. Each of us has a specific role to fulfill in the Body of Christ that has been set apart for us since before time. So when we cut ourselves off from him, even without intending to, we’re missing out on fulfilling that special mission that God has intended for us – and the Church is missing out on having us fulfill it.

Mass for Life at St. Charles, Staten Island. // Photo by Mary DiBiase Blaich.



Easter 2021 at a socially distanced St. Patrick’s Cathedral. // Photograph by Maria Bastone.



At Mass commemorating the 200th anniversary of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s death, January 2021, at St. Peter’s in lower Manhattan. // Photo by Mary DiBiase Blaich.

“It’s like a beautiful mosaic missing one of its stones, or a stained glass window missing one of the panels. The window may still be beautiful overall, yet it’s missing something that would have made it even more beautiful, more complete.”

There is much to be hopeful about now. With each week, more of the faithful are returning. “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Fr. Cruz says. “More people are getting the vaccines, summer is around the corner, and we hope that with the warm weather, the virus spread will slow down. ... 

“I can’t wait to see the church packed again. I know that it will take time to get to 100% of capacity. In the meantime, we can get ready. People will come with a lot of questions. They will come hungry and thirsty for God.”

Queuing up on Fifth Avenue for Easter 2021 Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. // Photo by Maria Bastone.

Still weighing the risks of returning to Mass in person? These pointers from the experts at ArchCare may help.