After long weeks of mothering and work, I rely on the routines of Catholic Mass and the homilies of my esteemed priest to center myself in my faith.
At its outset, I worried that the coronavirus pandemic would cut off my faith practice. Instead, I found solace in livestreaming services and drew even closer to my Christian beliefs over the past 15 months.
Then, several weeks ago, the livestreams stopped. Without warning, my contact with my church home was severed. The cessation of virtual services coincided with my local Catholic diocese’s decision to lift the dispensation to attend Mass on May 22. For my husband and I alone, this would have presented a conundrum. At the time, we were not fully vaccinated. More importantly, our children, ages 4 and 11 months, have not yet been vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise that my youngest “might be at increased risk for severe illness from SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
In consultation with our children’s pediatrician, my husband and I made the difficult decision not to bring our children into crowded or indoor spaces, including our church, until the pandemic abates or they can be safely vaccinated. It bears noting that there is a pervasive false narrative that children cannot get seriously ill from the coronavirus. While they are affected less severely than adults, in 2020, the coronavirus was among the top 10 causes of death for children in the United States. The virus is especially dangerous for children with preexisting conditions. Dr. Wes Ely, a pulmonary and critical care specialist, told me that the virus “is a lot worse than people think. There’s nothing fake about it.”
Still, the pushback I have faced regarding my family’s coronavirus precautions has made me an ever more vociferous advocate for my children. Now that the church has seemingly issued its ruling on our concerns, I feel that my faith is being tested: Whom do I trust with my children’s health? The doctors who administer their medical care, or the clergy who see to their spiritual well-being?
As in much of the country, Michigan’s coronavirus numbers have receded to levels last seen in June 2020. While this is positive, one hopes our memories are not so short that we cannot recall the surges, and deaths, that followed last year’s brief lull. Additionally, new strains of the coronavirus continue to emerge, including the particularly contagious Delta variant, whose ability to penetrate vaccine-derived immunity is still being researched.
Hailing coronavirus progress, Catholic dioceses around the country are lifting their dispensations for attending Mass or removing masking and social distancing requirements.
Ely, a practicing Catholic, has helped advise church leaders on several occasions during the pandemic. When asked about the safety of removing the dispensation to attend Mass, he stressed the importance of preserving the option for online attendance. Ely’s concerns about Mass safety extend beyond children. Some people “can’t get vaccinated for physical health reasons” or “are immunocompromised and won’t mount the appropriate antibody response after the vaccine,” he explains. “For those people who want to receive Christ in the Eucharist and go to Mass, they need to have Mass available via videoconferencing and spiritual Communion.”
Dr. David Weill, the former director of Stanford University’s lung transplant program and the author of the recent memoir Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant, is another concerned Catholic. “Making a blanket declaration that everybody is safe to go back into church to receive Communion [is not] a full understanding of segments of the population that still have a vulnerability,” Weill said.
One of the constant themes in Christianity is the imperative to “go and make disciples of all nations.” By closing off access to virtual Mass for parishioners with legitimate health concerns, dioceses around the country are practicing a kind of reverse evangelization.
So long as coronavirus cases persist and vaccination has not been offered to, or is not an option for, vulnerable people, Catholic churches should continue to offer livestreamed Mass. Failing to do so forces faithful parishioners to make an impossible and dangerous choice.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
