As Minnesota’s Stay Home order continues, the suspension of public Mass will remain in place for Catholic churches. However, Catholic bishops in the state have released guidelines for the time when public Mass can be held again. “We recognize that when we return to public Masses, we will have to do so with carefully defined protocols in order to keep people safe and to prevent the spread of the virus,” said Bernard Hebda, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, when he wrote a letter to Twin Cities Catholics, adding that “the church needs to begin now to work with priests and parish leaders so that we could be ready to begin some limited public Masses on May 18.” According to published reports, there is no plan to reinstate the obligation to attend Sunday Mass anytime soon, even when public Mass is able to resume. Hebda says Catholics will be encouraged to attend Mass during the week to spread out the number of people attending church at a single time.
