Archbishop urges adding Masses in response to gov’t attendance limit

Pastors in the Archdiocese of Vancouver should add additional Masses and avoid dividing parishioners over provincial Mass restrictions, Archbishop J. Michael Miller said Thursday following the B.C. government’s latest restrictions on public worship.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry issued new health orders Tuesday that limit attendance at houses of worship to 50 per cent seating capacity unless all participants are vaccinated.

In a memo to priests, Archbishop Miller said attendance at most Masses in the archdiocese is currently at less than 50 per cent of church capacity, so pastors needn’t take any immediate steps for this weekend. He urged pastors to accommodate large Christmas crowds by adding services to their Sunday Mass schedule.

“In our local Church, we must avoid any attempt to establish a segregated or divisive system for Mass attendance,” the archbishop said. “If your parish has Masses where attendance is higher than 50 per cent of capacity, it is recommended that you provide at least one additional Mass at up to 50 per cent capacity.”

Additional suggestions will be circulated next week in anticipation of higher attendance closer to Christmas, he said.

Henry told faith leaders the government would “allow flexibility” in determining the vaccination status of worshippers by using the B.C. Vaccine Card or other proof of vaccination.

Henry also said masks would be mandatory for participants at worship services, including choir members. 

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Vancouver have already been wearing masks at Mass since Archbishop J. Michael Miller mandated their use in August.

The likely addition of Sunday Masses ironically comes as COVID and government restrictions on public worship take a toll on Mass attendance in the archdiocese, with tens of thousands of Catholics not returning to church since a government ban on public worship was lifted in the spring.

Sunday Mass attendance is down nearly 40 per cent from before the pandemic started in winter 2020, according to Mass census figures from the Archdiocese of Vancouver. (The 2020 census, which took place when Masses were limited to 50 people, showed Mass attendance down by 78 per cent.) 

Archdiocesan officials had been anticipating low attendance figures since the last full census in October 2019, five months before the provincial government declared a public health emergency in March 2020. Over the next 12 months the archdiocese faced more than a year of bans on public worship or limits on attendance. 

At this year’s Archbishop's Dinner, Archbishop J. Michael Miller indicated Mass attendance might be down by as much as a third. The newly released numbers show an even greater decline, with individual parishes losing anywhere from 10 to more than 60 per cent of their weekly Mass-goers.

The average decline in attendance was 39.83 per cent, although a couple of parishes bucked the trend and increased attendance.

Prior to the pandemic the archdiocese had seen annual growth of 1.73 per cent, with an average of 83,000 Catholics going to Mass each week in 2019. Just under 50,000 now attend weekly.

Despite the low numbers, the number of parishioners appears to be holding steady. Last spring’s Spiritual Report, an annual survey by the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Chancery office, showed the number of households registered at local parishes holding steady, hovering around 71,600.