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<\/strong><\/h3>\nBy Cardinal Timothy Dolan<\/em><\/p>\n Since the re-opening of our churches last Summer, I\u2019ve made it a point to visit, unannounced, various parishes, in order to celebrate Mass and spend some time with parishioners.\u00a0 At each visit, I am not allowed to enter the church until my temperature is taken; ushers are there to distribute facemasks to anyone who has left theirs at home.\u00a0 Hand sanitizing stations are located around the church, and social distancing and crowd limitations are enforced.\u00a0 When Mass is over, I slip back into the church, and always find eight or so parishioners already hard at work, scrubbing and sanitizing the pews, door handles, and altar area before the next Mass.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When the Coronavirus pandemic surged around the world, there was understandable confusion, uncertainty, and, at times, a sense of panic as people wondered, \u201cWhat should we do?\u00a0 How do we respond?\u201d\u00a0 Fortunately, medical experts and our elected officials were able to provide guidance on what steps we needed to take to contain the spread of the virus. We thank them.<\/p>\n Here in New York, indeed around the country and world, the Catholic Church responded without delay, as did many others.\u00a0 Our parishes suspended public celebrations of the Mass and sacraments in early March, recognizing that, while our primary duty is to help people get to heaven, we also have an obligation to protect the health and well-being of people here on earth.\u00a0 Our schools in New York closed even before the public schools did, and live stream Mass and remote learning became the norm. \u00a0We were unable to celebrate Holy Week and Easter Mass in church\u2013 and for our Jewish neighbors, the same was true for Passover.\u00a0 Our children had to delay their first communion and confirmation, couples their marriages, and grieving families had to forgo wakes and funeral Masses for their beloved dead. We did all this sacrificially, but willingly and successfully.\u00a0 And it worked!<\/p>\n That is why we planned so carefully for when our churches would be allowed to re-open, and rejoiced so enthusiastically when they were allowed to do so \u2014 and why Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and the Diocese of Brooklyn were right to resist the state\u2019s recent order limiting participation at\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>houses of worship in certain neighborhoods.<\/p>\n Yes, our elected officials have a responsibility to respond to crisis situations, and we expect them to work to preserve the common good, as they have.\u00a0 If any group, organization, or institution is experiencing a rise in cases, or is not following proper safety protocols, it should close down until the situation is rectified.\u00a0 I can assure you that if a parish in the archdiocese was experiencing a spike, we wouldn\u2019t need to be told to close; it would happen automatically.<\/p>\n Is it right, however, for a group, organization, or institution, which is operating safely and has not seen any spike in cases, to be closed down simply because some other group, a half-mile away, is having problems?\u00a0 This is not the time for a \u201cbroad-brush\u201d approach, to sweep up everyone within a zip code. We\u2019ve learned some valuable lessons, and have proven that our churches \u2014 as well as our schools, by the way \u2013 can operate safely and effectively.<\/p>\n Equally disturbing is the fact that these restrictions \u2013 no more than 10 people (presumably including the priest, minister, or rabbi) at a service in the red zone, 25 in an orange zone \u2013 would have a disproportionate impact on houses of worship.\u00a0 There is sufficient judicial precedent that disallows such targeting of religious services; in fact, given the First Amendment issues here \u2013 lest we forget, freedom of religion is the first mentioned in the Bill of Rights \u2013 courts have always afforded houses of worship greater latitude in such matters.<\/p>\n The Church in New York has proven time and again its willingness to take all reasonable and responsible steps to protect the health and safety of all. We who have done all this so scrupulously and successfully should not be punished for the failure of others.\u00a0 To have all of the steps we\u2019ve taken be ignored, and to face the prospect of indefinite unreasonable restrictions placed upon our churches is just not fair!\u00a0 Why are churches being singled out?\u00a0 Why especially are those houses of worship that have been exemplary, strict, and successful in heeding all warnings, being shut down again?<\/p>\n Why are Churches Being Singled Out? By Cardinal Timothy Dolan Since the re-opening of our churches last Summer, I\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-commentary","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"