Questions Regarding Attendance At Mass

AM I OBLIGATED TO GO TO MASS?

Over the past year, I have witnessed the challenge it has been to remain focused on our spiritual lives when the Eucharist is absent. Indeed, it is in Jesus that we draw our greatest strength and our deepest blessings. And Jesus is truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is Jesus -Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Attendance at Mass on Sunday is how we as Catholics fulfill the commandment to “Keep holy the Lord’s day”. The dispensation from Sunday Mass went into effect in March 2020 when our churches were closed due to the pandemic lockdown.  However, our churches have been open for a number of months now.  Thus, I firmly believe that, as has been recently done in other dioceses of our state and around the country, we have arrived at a time when we should once again enjoin everyone to remember that the Eucharist is at the heart of our faith. For these reasons, I have decided to reinstate the Obligation to participate in Mass on Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation. 

This reinstatement will take place on the weekend when we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary -August 14 & 15. Beginning with this celebration, Catholics throughout our diocese are invited and obligated to attend the weekly celebration of Sunday Mass. Please hear me. Your spiritual health and relationship with God is the most important thing to me and my ministry as your bishop. I want you to know Jesus. I want you to encounter Him at Mass in His word and in the Eucharist. I want to you to be close to Him. 

I know that many of us have already returned to Sunday Mass and I am deeply grateful for your faith and your commitment to God and your parish communities. I pray that this reinstatement of our Sunday obligation might encourage others to return as well. 

However, I am aware that there are those who are homebound, elderly, ill, who have compromised immune systems, or who continue to refrain from leisure activities, social contacts, and all forms of gatherings due to health concerns or concerns with regard to the virus. The church in its wisdom and love has always excused the faithful who find themselves in these situations from the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. If you are one of these faithful, you are certainly excused from this obligation. Be assured of my prayers for you, as well as those of your parish community. You are never forgotten. You always receive special remembrance in my prayer. 

I assume that some of us may have questions regarding the obligation to attend Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation. And to that end, I have asked those with whom I closely work to create for us a library of resources to help us better understand the gift of the Mass and why the church so fervently asks and obliges us to attend Mass every Sunday, which is the way that we as Catholics fulfill the commandment to Keep Holy the Lord's Day. These resources can be found on our diocesan website at htdiocese.org/sunday. You will also find a special article in the August Issue of Bayou Catholic magazine. 

(Excerpted from Bishop Fabre's Letter to Parishioners, July 24)

ARE MASKS REQUIRED AT CHURCH?

Bishop Shelton Fabre has announced that beginning the weekend of August 7 & 8, all individuals entering buildings on church property in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux will be required to wear masks, as per Governor John Bel Edwards’ latest mask mandate for the state of Louisiana.  This requirement to wear masks is until further notice.  Thank you for your cooperation in these challenging times.