A Catholic bishop in New Mexico announced Wednesday afternoon that his diocese will resume public masses, making it the first in the United States to do so.
The bishop, Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, wrote in a letter to priests that it is their mission “to bring them hope and consolation during this difficult time” to church members, according to the Catholic News Agency.
“These past few weeks have allowed me to further analyze the situation and discern a safe way to proceed,” Baldacchino wrote. “It has become increasingly clear that the state shutdown will last for some time. Depriving the faithful of the nourishment offered through the Eucharist was indeed a difficult decision, one that I deemed necessary until I had further clarity regarding our current state of affairs, but it cannot become the status quo for the foreseeable future.”
Baldacchino said he will remain in compliance with social distancing orders from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and restrict attendance to five people at all masses within churches, including the celebrant. He also recommended that priests celebrate masses outside or as drive-in services, as many Protestant churches have adopted in the past few weeks.
He noted, however, that he disagreed with Grisham’s recent decision to list churches as “non-essential.”
“Sadly, the Governor is no longer exempting places of worship from the restrictions on ‘mass gatherings,'” he said. “It seems to me that while we run a daily count of the physical deaths we are overlooking those who are dead interiorly.”
Baldacchino stressed that his decision to open masses stemmed from a desire that Catholics should have access to the sacraments, including the Eucharist, confession, and the anointing of the sick.
“We, as priests, are called to bring the Word of Life to people, we are called to minister the life-giving sacraments. Televised Masses have been an attempt to bridge the gap during this time, but I am increasingly convinced that this is not enough,” Baldacchino said. “The eternal life offered in Christ Jesus needs to be announced. It was precisely the urgency of this announcement that drove the first apostles and the need is no less today. Christ is alive and we are his ambassadors.”