Bishop Larry Silva wears a mask while celebrating Mass in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Bishop Larry Silva is strongly urging Catholics to return to Sunday Mass — if it is safe to do so. That said, “in light of the ongoing pandemic,” he has extended his dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass for the fifth time. This latest extension is from Jan. 1 until the day before Ash Wednesday, Feb. 16.
The bishop made the announcement in a Dec. 6 letter to “all parishioners” of the Diocese of Honolulu.
His letter included a catechetical lesson on the importance of Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and why attendance is ordinarily a “serious” obligation.
“It is because the Eucharist is our unique physical encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, who longs to be one with us and to strengthen us for our mission of living in his love and sharing his Good News with others,” he said.
“The Eucharist is not simply a series of rituals,” he said, “but it is the Memorial that Jesus himself left us in which he makes himself present to us.”
“He offers himself to us in a physical manner, hidden under the guise of bread and wine, which by the power of the Holy Spirit invoked by the priest in the midst of his beloved Bride, the Church, become his Body and Blood.”
“He is the ‘living bread come down from heaven,’ who offers himself as real food and real drink to give us eternal life,” he said.
The bishop acknowledged that Jesus is encountered in private prayer, Scripture and in serving others. “But there is nothing compared to a physical encounter with him in the Eucharist.”
“This is why the Church insists that all its members, whenever they are not legitimately impeded, come together in intimate communion with the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, so that the Body of Christ can renew and transform our world with renewed vigor of the living Christ Jesus.”
The bishop’s previous dispensation extension was from Nov. 1 to the end of the calendar year.
In that letter, dated Oct. 13, Bishop Silva asked parishes to make efforts to accommodate as many people as possible for Advent and Christmas liturgies.
“While we must not let down our guard and continue to observe prudent hygiene measures,” he said, “we also want to look optimistically to the future.”
Bishop Silva first canceled public liturgies on March 17 for two weeks, prompted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation that gatherings of 50 or more be canceled and the advice of local health and government officials.
He called it “one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as a bishop.”
He extended that ban until April 30 as the government pressed stricter “stay at home” orders, effectively canceling the public observance of Holy Week and Easter.
Public Masses in Hawaii returned on Pentecost weekend May 30-31 along with strict rules that included the mandatory wearing of face-masks, social distancing, the sanitizing of pews and other precautionary measures.
The bishop’s first deadline for the Mass attendance dispensation was June 30. He extended that to Aug. 31 and again until Oct. 31.
Bishop Silva said in August that he will end the dispensation “when the virus appears to be under control and no longer a clear and present danger to the community or the people who compose it.”
For those taking the dispensation, the bishop recommended more home prayer and spiritual reading, and the viewing of livestreamed Masses.
The sites for livestreamed Masses are posted on the diocesan website, catholichawaii.org.
