‘We’re not cancelling Holy Week’: Archbishop answers COVID-19 questions

The latest updates from the Archdiocese of Vancouver available here.

With the holiest and busiest time of the Church year approaching, Archbishop J. Michael Miller went on camera this week to offer some clarity about what is and isn’t cancelled in the Church in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

The celebration of Masses without the presence of a congregation, and Catholics unable to receive Holy Communion, is “very sad for us because we’ve come quite rightfully to rely upon our daily bread,” he said in a video interview with Makani Marquis, the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s senior director of communications. 

However, the archbishop pointed out that in remote areas like the Amazon or Canada’s north, where there are few priests, it is common for communities to only participate in Mass once a month or a few times a year.

Archbishop Miller said he made the decision to restrict public Masses with sadness after consultation with priests and considering measures imposed by B.C. health officials that banned gatherings of more than 50 people and required a minimum of two metres between everyone.

At this time, churches are still open for private prayer. (Some pastors also still offer the sacrament of reconciliation, although for health reasons they’re using crying rooms or other spaces instead of tiny confessionals.)

“Unfortunately,” said Archbishop Miller, “one imagines that the same restrictions” will still be in place when Holy Week begins April 5. 

Celebrations during “the holiest week of the year” will proceed the way Masses are now, with only the pastor and a limited number of servers.

“We’re not cancelling Holy Week. It can never be cancelled; it’s Holy Week!”

Archbishop Miller encouraged local Catholics to participate in the celebrations at their parishes or the Vatican by watching them streamed live on their TVs and computers. Holy Week events at the Vatican will also take place without congregations present.

He acknowledged it will be an unusual experience.

“This is a different kind of Lent,” he said. “The sacrifices we proposed for ourselves at the beginning (of Lent) probably now are a little trivial ... in light of what’s being asked of us, and the sudden change of what it means to pray, to fast, and to do works of charity.”

The temporary ban on public Masses includes Holy Rosary Cathedral, where the office is closed and the church is no longer accessible by the public. However Masses can be viewed online.

“Without interruption for 120 years, Sunday Mass with a congregation has been celebrated in our magnificent Cathedral under the watchful gaze of the Queen of the Holy Rosary. Today, that particular tradition has been broken,” he said in a Tweet March 22.

“Yet, throughout the Archdiocese of Vancouver, our faithful priests are offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the glory of God, the spiritual good of their parishioners, and indeed of the world.”

When it comes to weddings, funerals, and other private events, Masses are being celebrated as long as the pastor allows and there are no more than 50 people present, said Archbishop Miller.

Confirmations scheduled for April have been postponed, and likely later ones as well until the ban on gatherings over 50 people is lifted. Many parishes have more than 50 children being confirmed, said the archbishop, not to mention sponsors and guests. A new confirmation schedule will depend on public health guidelines.

Baptisms, except in cases of emergency, are also being postponed. He pointed out baptisms involving several infants would require multiple anointings and multiple uses of a bottle of hand sanitizer. 

It remains to be seen if First Communions, which usually take place in May and early June, will be postponed. Archbishop Miller said those dates hinge on when elementary schools (now grappling with questions about how to offer distance learning) can resume religious education. He suggested they might be pushed to September.

The anointing of the sick is still provided at home or hospital, and priests are aware of proper protocols for sanitizing and keeping germs from spreading, said the archbishop.

While the current crisis is difficult for everyone, he singled out seniors, who are “the backbone of those who go to daily Mass” and “our best volunteers.”

“This is a group of very faithful people and it hurts them the most. I’m sure some of them, for 50 years, they have hardly ever missed a day, even on vacation, so this is a real sacrifice for them.”

The restrictions are to protect them and those around them, he said, so it’s best that pray at home for now.

“To think that as Catholics, a sacramental church, we can’t be celebrating the sacraments, is a great loss,” he said.

“Now we join millions of Catholics around the world who have learned to live without the Eucharist for periods of time, and the Church has been sustained.”

For a list of Sunday Masses available online and the latest updates from the Archdiocese of Vancouver, visit www.rcav.org/coronavirus.

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