CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Five years ago this week, public health orders issued amid the uncertainty of the novel coronavirus turned Mass schedules across the country and the world upside down.
In those early days following the WHO’s March 11, 2020, declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the bishops of every U.S. diocese issued some form of dispensation, suspending the obligation that Catholics must attend Sunday Mass in person.
Thousands of parishes and ministries scrambled to develop plans to offer livestreamed Masses, deliver the sacraments in a “socially distanced” manner, and live out the Church’s life as best they could under extraordinary circumstances. Public Masses at most parishes were suspended entirely for a time, and those that were able to reopen were subject, in many areas, to distancing requirements and numerical or percentage-based attendance caps.
As Catholics nationwide adapted to the changes — not knowing how long this new reality might last — observers feared that many Catholics, barred from their parishes for so long and now accustomed to attending from the comfort of home, might not return after the parish doors reopened.
A study from the Pew Research Center found that most Catholics continued participating in Mass throughout the pandemic — but many were only able to do so virtually. In November 2022, when the survey was done, only about 4 in 10 U.S. Catholics said they attended Mass in person as often as they did before the pandemic.
Indeed, from the start of the COVID pandemic lockdowns in the U.S. to the declared end of the pandemic in May 2023, in-person Mass attendance averaged just 15% — a dismal figure, but not markedly lower than the 24% it was before. (The Catholic Church teaches that Catholics are obligated to attend Mass in person every Sunday, except for a serious reason such as illness or if they’ve been dispensed from their obligation by their pastor or bishop.)
Some bishops lifted the dispensations they had issued as early as late 2020, while a few held out until 2022. In lifting the dispensations they issued amid the lockdowns, many U.S. bishops implored Catholics to return to Mass in person.
While Mass attendance today among Catholics in the U.S. remains much lower than among Catholics in other countries, recent data has suggested that U.S. in-person Mass attendance levels have quietly returned to where they were in 2019 after years of uncertainty over whether they would ever rebound.
For some thriving parishes in the U.S., the lockdowns — while challenging — presented an opportunity to continue sharing the faith in a creative manner and come out even stronger than they were before.
Father John Mosimann, pastor at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fredericksburg, Virginia, told CNA that the parish has seen its numbers grow since the pandemic.
On a typical weekend, Mosimann and his four parochial vicars celebrate 11 total Masses in English, plus another in Spanish at a different parish where they are kick-starting a Spanish Mass ministry.
All told, roughly 3,800 people attended St. Mary’s weekend Masses on a typical week in 2019. According to headcounts, the parish had already exceeded its pre-pandemic levels by 2023, with around 4,300 attendees on average. The parish, which is about 55 miles south of Washington, D.C., has 6,700 registered families and nearly 100 active ministries.
During the pandemic, St. Mary’s added extra Masses — since for a time, Masses were limited to a smaller-than-usual number of attendees — and continued hosting adoration. Like so many other parishes, the parish had to quickly adapt to a livestreaming paradigm in order to stay connected with the community.
“I was in the office and I was looking at Facebook and I said, ‘What if I hit this button and go live, what would happen?’” Mosimann remembers thinking as the lockdowns began.
“And so I started streaming on Facebook Live and everybody started jumping in … ’What’s going on, Father? What’s going to happen?’ And I didn’t have answers, because I wasn’t that great a prophet. But we did immediately start streaming.”
He said parishioners were grateful for the effort the priests made to stay in touch, despite the occasional technical challenge — a problem far from unique to St. Mary’s.
“If you want perfect sound and you want a studio, go to EWTN. They’ve got professional equipment. If you want to see your priests, come talk to us,” Mosimann said he told his parishioners.
“We’re not going to be anxious over having studio quality, because what’s important is for us to be connected to you. People responded to that. People were very grateful for that. It was very frequently cited by parishioners, how grateful they were for our staying in touch with them during that difficult moment.”
The last of Virginia’s capacity-restricting public health orders on venues was lifted in late May 2021, and Bishop Michael Burbidge of the local Diocese of Arlington in the following month lifted the dispensation he had issued, inviting Catholics to return to Mass throughout the diocese. So far, as in most U.S. dioceses, Mass attendance overall in Arlington has risen significantly but has not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Since the pandemic’s end, Mosimann said his focus has been on encouraging parishioners to use their time and talents generously to help rebuild and grow the parish community.
For Mosimann, the pandemic experience was proof that by remaining faithful even through troubling and difficult times, God can and does bring good out of bad situations through his grace.
“[We] did everything we could to provide the sacraments to God’s people and to make it available as much as possible with all the restrictions. That should be the goal of every parish, every day, whether there’s a pandemic or not,” Mosimann said.
‘We are proud to be who we are’
Father Michael Hurley, OP, pastor of St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, said his parish, which offers what he believes is the largest young adult presence in the entire archdiocese, regularly sees attendance numbers today that are similar to pre-pandemic levels.
The parish was able to safely provide the sacraments to those in need during the pandemic and had, providentially, already set up livestreaming for Masses shortly before the start of the pandemic. To this day the parish maintains a healthy online base of Dominican laypeople who tune in for Masses and prayer.
Hurley said he personally never worried during lockdown about people not returning to Mass, instead trusting that Catholics would return when they could. He said his main concern was keeping the church building open safely during the pandemic — in a state with some of the strictest lockdown measures in the country — to maintain sacramental support.
California finally lifted all capacity restrictions on religious gatherings in April 2021 after previously implementing a near-total ban on indoor services that was contested all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Though the demographics of St. Dominic Parish has changed somewhat, in-person worshippers, many of whom work in the Bay Area’s high-tech sector, have returned in large numbers.
“The Lord is always searching for the strays, right? … All you have to do is open the doors and do what you’re doing, and people will come,” Hurley told CNA.
That said, Hurley said he believes St. Dominic’s beautiful church building, welcoming atmosphere, and a strong sense of identity — as a Dominican-led parish that aims to “radiate the joy of the Gospel in the heart of the city” — helps to make it an attractive place for Catholics, especially young adults. They also keep the church building open for personal prayer throughout the day, a rarity in a city that occasionally struggles with crime.
“We are proud to be who we are as Catholics, and for us as clergy, as Dominicans. And that makes a huge difference,” Hurley said.
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The despicable suspension of Mass and the Sacraments by many bishops will be remembered as one of the biggest mistakes ever to occur. In our irrational fear of a virus with a high survival rate, we ran away like mice from our God, who is our true physician of soul and body.
Fearless newer generations of younger people are known to be the present and the future of the Pilgrim Church. They keep the church alive and moving. May their tribe increase.
I *fully* agree with you, Doctor. The children, teens, Newman Center students, and young adults of my parish inspire me every day with their trusting and steadfast faith.
I schedule altar servers at my parish. Last summer, our good Bishop decided to celebrate a Mass for the Eucharistic Revival at the nearby AA MLB stadium about 2 blocks from our parish, with a public procession back to our parish after the Mass for Eucharistic Adoration. This was scheduled for one of the hottest, most humid days of the year – not only was it miserably hot outside, but also in our non-air conditioned church. And it entailed at least 5 hours of being “on duty” and vested.
When word got around about this, I was approached by over a dozen children and teens who wanted to serve, in addition to 4 local seminarians who were home for the summer. The Diocese only requested 5 servers, but my pastor didn’t have the heart to turn any of them away. At least 12 of the children and the 4 seminarians vested in black cassocks with white starched surplices at our parish. Father (and I) told them how proud we were of all of them for this service to Jesus, and for being His honor guard. Carrying a baldacchino to be used later for the procession, they marched down to the stadium in the sweltering heat and blazing sun.
Bishop Malesic was *delighted* to greet the children and the young seminarians (who acted as big brothers to the children). After personally introducing himself to each one, learning their names, and shaking their hands, he led them to a comfortable, air-conditioned room at the stadium to wait with the assisting priests for the beginning of Mass. There were over 900 in attendance at Mass. After Mass, the seminarians and the children, with reverence and great dignity, led the procession back to our church, where we finished the evening with Adoration.
My good pastor and our outstanding bishop were the last to leave, personally pushing brooms and cleaning the church after everyone left. I credit their good example and faithful, joyful leadership to inspiring these fine young people. I also credit them for recent religious vocations in my parish over the last 5 years – 2 young men in the seminary, 3 young ladies in the convent, and one young man in diaconate formation – after *decades* of no vocations.
Good and faithful leadership is the key, along with daily prayer support from the rest of us!
I was/am blessed to a parish led by an exceptionally faithful and pastoral young priest. When the Ohio Catholic Dioceses shut down for approximately 6 weeks starting with Lent, Father did not take it easy and let things slide. He saw it as a challenge and stepped up his ministry.
Every day, he went on the parish Facebook and YouTube pages and spoke to the children. He encouraged them to keep up with their studies and to work hard helping their parents at home. He told them about the Saint of the Day and how they could imitate the example of each saint in their own way.
He similarly talked to the Newman Center students of the University of Akron, for whom he was chaplain. He impressed on them that we each have a mission from God to be who He made us to be. And he reminded them to tune in to the Diocesan and EWTN daily Masses and to more deeply rely on devotions such as the Liturgy of the Hours in this time.
For us, his parishioners, Father talked to us every day as well. He organized some of us with sheets of contact information for every registered parishioner and asked us to contact them to see if they needed food or meds. If they did and were unable to get out, we would bring them groceries and meds and leave them on the front porch. He also prayed the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet with us every day via You Tube. He even broadcast a weekly Monopoly game with our retired parochial vicar and Joey, the rectory cat, during which he kept us up on plans for the parish when things got back to normal and news from the Vatican.
During that long, long Lent, he organized the Knights of Columbus to act as bouncers when he offered Confession in preparation for Easter. The Knights coordinated parishioners to permit only 2 at a time in the church – one in the Confessional and one in the back vestibule. After Father absolved the penitent, he offered Communion to that person from a ciborium he kept with him. No one can imagine what a great gift that was after so many weeks of isolation. With the help of the Knights, he also distributed blessed palms on Palm Sunday – parishioners drove up in the parking lot and were given palms through the driver’s window and could also receive them on the street corners.
After a slow return to normal after the quarantine, we came back home to our beloved parish and pastor with great joy on Pentecost. In time, almost everyone returned, and in fact we have had some growth as far as parishioner numbers, thanks be to God!
I give full credit for this to the Holy Spirit and to our fine pastor, who never gave up on us and found his way to lead us against all odds. I know of some parishes whose pastors simply told their parishioners to watch Mass on TV as provided by the Diocese (at 5 AM on Sunday mornings.) My pastor, in comparison, went above and beyond the call of duty and cared enough about us to work even harder during the quarantine, risking his own life to bring the sacraments to the dying, and to come up with creative ways to minister to us and to keep in touch when we were most isolated and frightened. We are blessed, and we do not take it for granted.