Baltimore City relaxes limit on church attendance

Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young rescinded Aug. 7 a provision that would have limited religious gatherings in the city, including Masses at Catholic churches, to 25 people or 25 percent of the facility’s capacity, whichever was lower.

In a new executive order, the specific limit of 25 people was removed for religious gatherings and for foodservice establishments (restaurants).

Catholic parishes in Baltimore City had expressed concern about the executive order Aug. 6 by Young that tightened restrictions for indoor venues, including religious services.

The order would have limited the number of people in religious facilities, restaurants and most indoor recreation establishments to 25 percent of capacity or 25 people, whichever is less. Casinos, including the Horseshoe Casino in downtown Baltimore, however, are limited to simply 25 percent of capacity, without the 25-person limit.

Deacon Patrick Woods, pastoral associate at St. Mary of the Assumption in Govans and St. Pius X in Rodgers Forge, expressed great concern.

St. Mary’s is in the city, while St. Pius is in the county.

Both parishes, part of a pastorate that cooperates for ministry, have been following Archdiocese of Baltimore guidelines that limit attendance to one-third of capacity, with strict social distancing in place, masks required and strict protocols for the distribution of holy Communion, as well as sanitizing the church between each service.

The parishes have not had any issues, Deacon Woods said. Communion is distributed at the end of Mass with people departing immediately afterward, to control movement and avoid people congregating in the church. 

“It’s a very thorough process,” he said.

Deacon Woods said parishioners are just trying to find a way to preserve some normalcy in their lives by attending Mass, and this order will disrupt that. 

It has been hard enough to bring a city parish and a county parish together as a pastorate, he said, and this just makes it seem to some that people in the county have advantages the city does not.

Masses can continue this weekend at St. Pius at one-third capacity, but since that is a smaller church, that means the maximum it can accommodate is 22 groups of up to four people per family. The church has been at that capacity most weekends.

St. Mary of the Assumption has twice the capacity, and it was hoping to take some overflow congregants who normally attend St. Pius.

The parishes are working on a communications plan to notify parishioners about the changes for the weekend.

At the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in downtown Baltimore, Father James Boric, rector, said many Catholic churches are large enough to safely accommodate more than 25 people. The parish’s largest Mass, 10:45 a.m. on Sundays, lately had 120-130 attendees. The 8 a.m. Mass has 60-70, and the Saturday vigil Mass has about 40.

“It’s been no problem whatsoever,” he said, noting that the church makes use of available space in the balconies to ensure that people are properly spread out. 

The church has professional cleaners who come in four times a week and volunteers who clean the church after each Mass.* Father Boric himself disinfects his hands between every person to whom he distributes Communion – on the tongue or in the hand – which is more stringent than the archdiocesan guidelines.

“We have doctors in the parish who have said this is the safest place they’ve been – there’s not a more controlled or safe place than the basilica,” Father Boric said.

Monsignor Richard Bozelli, pastor of St. Bernardine Parish, said his church has had about 30 people for the Saturday vigil Mass and 50 people on Sundays. He said the church – with full capacity of about 650 – could accommodate just over 100 people at 30 percent capacity and social distancing.

That has not been a problem for weekend or weekday Masses, but funerals have gotten very close to that limit. Funerals tend to bring bigger crowds and “it’s hard for people not to hug at a funeral.”

He reminds his parishioners that the parish does everything it can to reduce the risk, but it cannot eliminate the risk.

Monsignor Bozelli said the parish is trying to figure out how to turn people away this weekend if more than 25 try to attend Mass, but he thinks they can figure out the regular Masses. “It would probably affect funerals more – there has definitely been more than 25 for those.”

James Bentley II, press secretary for Mayor Young, said the office has gotten calls from the religious community disappointed about the executive order.

“As of right now, with the way the (coronavirus case) numbers are looking, no, there is no thought about changing it.”

Bentley referred a question about why the casino is exempt from the 25-person limit, but not religious facilities, to the Baltimore City Health Department, which had not responded to a query from the Catholic Review at the time of publication.

* Updated Aug. 7, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. to clarify cleaning schedule at basilica.

Updated Aug. 7, 2020, 12:45 p.m. to reflect new executive order.

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@catholicreview.org

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