CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) – The Archdiocese of Chicago has announced through an internal email that the faithful will soon be obliged to attend Sunday masses again under pain of mortal sin.
The email was sent to every priest of the Archdiocese by Vicar General Bishop Robert Casey. Casey stated that the obligation to attend Sunday Mass, which was lifted with a general dispensation for all the faithful in the opening stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, would be reinstated as of the First Sunday of Advent later this month.
For Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sunday Mass will become obligatory once again after a general dispensation was granted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. https://t.co/AIfezWnqRn
— Catholic World Report (@cworldreport) November 8, 2022
“Dear Brothers, Cardinal [Blase] Cupich is lifting the general dispensation from the obligation to participate in Sunday Mass that was put into effect at the beginning of the pandemic,” Casey wrote.
“As we begin a new Church year on the First Sunday of Advent, November 26-27, this is a moment to renew our invitation to those parishioners who are physically able to return to Mass in person, as well as renew our life in Christ as a community of believers.”
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Casey also stated that, rather than recite the Nicene Creed, parish priests would renew their baptismal vows with their congregations after the homily, “acknowledging that we owe our obligation to participate in Sunday Mass to God but also to each other.”
“Be assured of my prayers for all of you and your parishes as we continue to invite people to full, active, conscious, and in-person participation at Mass and in the life of our local Church,” Casey wrote.
The Archdiocese announced in April, as COVID-inspired restrictions were lifted, that it was safe to return to Mass. However, it has chosen to delay the reinstitution of the obligation to attend Sunday Mass almost a year and a half after other dioceses.
In Los Angeles, the largest diocese in the United States, the dispensation to attend Sunday Mass was lifted in June last year. Other dioceses to reinstate the obligation to attend Sunday worship last year included Tucson, Arizona; Wichita, Kansas; Lansing, Michigan; Des Moines, Iowa; and Santa Rosa, California.
The Archdiocese of Chicago, led by controversial Cardinal Blaise Cupich, is known to be a hotbed of heresy and liturgical abuse.
Earlier this year, Cupich rebuked cancer patient Fr. Anthony Buś for asking for permission to continue saying the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). The cardinal accused the priest of violating Canon 1373 of the Code of Canon Law, which deals with disobedience by subordinates towards the Pope or the local ordinary.
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In August, Cupich banned the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest from saying public Masses and hearing confessions. While the Archdiocese said that the Institute “chose” to stop offering the sacraments to the faithful, those close to the Institute told LifeSiteNews that members of the Institute could not sign in good conscience a document presented them by the cardinal. Signing the paper would have, among other things, given them permission to offer the TLM for two years. However, the permissions could have been rescinded at any time and the document demanded that the Institute reject the TLM in favor of the Novus Ordo Missae by agreeing that the latter is the only true expression of the Roman Rite.
The Archdiocese of Chicago has not responded to LifeSiteNews’ request for comment.