SCRANTON — Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera announced Thursday that the Sunday and Holy Day Mass obligation will go back into effect Aug. 15. The change will also occur in every Pennsylvania Diocese on the same date.
The Catholic Church requires attendance of Mass each Sunday, though for decades the obligation could also be fulfilled by attending certain Mass celebrations held Saturday, originally called an “anticipatory Mass.” When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Pennsylvania in March of 2020, prompting the state to order numerous closings to slow the spread of the virus, the Diocese of Scranton gave a dispensation from that obligation.
Bambera issued a letter that began with prayers “for those who have been directly affected by the virus, those that are still impacted by its effects and those who have lost loved ones.” The letter than announced “in light of the continued decline in cases and hospitalizations locally, that dispensation will end on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“The Sunday celebration of Mass is the center of the Church’s life. The importance – and necessity – to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days is rooted in our Baptism as Christians. Baptism compels us, as Christians, to unite ourselves with Christ at the altar in his saving Sacrifice of the Cross. Put simply, attending Mass is an encounter with Our Risen Lord.”
Bambera cited Pope Francis from the 2013 Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium: “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.” He encouraged “all of the faithful in our community – including those who may have left the Church long before the pandemic – to return” to services in person. “Our participation at Mass in-person is a gift for our own spiritual well-being, happiness and eternal salvation. It is also our responsibility to our brothers and sisters with whom we journey in faith.”
The obligation to attend Mass has exceptions.
”It is important to note that people who are seriously ill or have a serious health risk, as well as those who have significant fear or anxiety of being part of a large group will continue to be legitimately excused from participating in Mass on Sundays and Holy Days,” Bambera wrote. “Those individuals are still encouraged to spend time in prayer, meditating on the Death and Resurrection of the Lord, reading Sacred Scripture and uniting themselves to Christ in his worship of the Father of us all.”