Parishioners return to Mass with passionate hearts and cautious minds amid pandemic

Angela Sulik and her 82-year-old mother were among thousands of parishioners throughout the Diocese of Corpus Christi returning to Mass after stay-at-home orders were lifted in Nueces County due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bishop Michael Mulvey issued specific guidelines for reopening parishes and the faithful flocked to churches after an unprecedented two-month long closure of public Masses due to the deadly virus.

“We decided to attend Mass because of the safety protocols and options set in place,” said Sulik. “I truly missed being in his house every Sunday. I know God is everywhere, but in his house is where I feel most comfortable celebrating Mass.”

Parishioners at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sulik said she and her mother felt completely safe at their first Mass at church after the lockdown.

Father Frank Martinez hands Parishioner Angie Garcia a palm leaf folded into a decorative cross, while Lee Alvarado holds a basket filled with more palm crosses after a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Since the stay-at-home order prevented any churches from holding services on Palm Sunday, Father Martinez distributed the crosses to each parishioner at a recent Mass. Rebecca Esparza | For STC

“I felt safe attending Mass in person because of the protocols set in place by Bishop Mulvey and Father Frank’s clear explanations of procedures and reassurances,” she added.

For other parishioners, the decision to stay home was tough.

“With this virus, we are all learning as we go, so I knew the first week back could come with a lot of challenges. We decided as a family we would stay home and follow Mass via livestream on Facebook,” said Isabel Jones, a parishioner at Most Precious Blood.

Jones said having a three-year-old who doesn’t quite understand social distancing rules yet played a major factor in deciding to stay home. But until the time is right for her and husband Lee, the family will continue to view Mass at home. Meanwhile, Jones remains optimistic about the situation.

“I do miss a sense of community and of course Communion. But more now than ever, we need to stay strong spiritually. I have learned to look at staying home in a positive way. Since we started streaming Mass, I have watched Mass with Pope Francis and was part of a Mass in New Mexico,” she said.

Deborah Saavedra receives holy Communion from Father Frank Martinez during Mass celebrated at Our Lady of Perpetual Help recently. It was the second week Masses have reopened since the stay-at-home order mandated all places of worship in Texas close to avoid the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus. Rebecca Esparza | For STC

Father Frank Martinez, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, said there is no pressure to attend Mass in person if parishioners feel uncomfortable because of the coronavirus.

“Bishop Mulvey has issued a special dispensation for all parishioners in the Diocese of Corpus Christi through the end of June,” he said. “Above all, we want our parishioners to stay safe and make the best decision for their own health and well being.”

Father Martinez said although the first week of Masses were much anticipated by many parishioners, he did not see a mad rush of people clamoring to return.

“I think people are not ready to be in an enclosed area with a group of people. However, we have marked each pew in our church with painter’s tape, indicating where people can safely sit six feet away from others not in their household,” he said. “We have also noticed the majority of people attending Mass are wearing masks, which is encouraged, but not mandatory. Our extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, ushers and other volunteers are all wearing masks.”

He added although some parishes had some challenges gathering supplies needed for sanitizing the church and finding volunteers to clean the church after each Mass, that was not an issue at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, even though they had seven Masses to prepare for.

Ned Perez, Usher Coordinator at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, joined other volunteers sanitizing each pew after a Saturday evening vigil Mass recently. The complete sanitizing of the entire church is just one of many precautions for returning to Mass, ensuring the safety and well-being of the entire community.  Rebecca Esparza | For STC

“My sister lives in South Korea, so in early March she told me about the pandemic they had already experienced. The next day, I called an emergency meeting of our staff. We ordered gloves, masks, cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer,” he said. “After Bishop Mulvey issued the guidelines for opening up our parish for Masses again, it was not difficult to mobilize.”

At Our Lady of Perpetual Help, when parishioners first walk into the church for Mass, an usher counts each person to track seating capacity. Another usher invites parishioners to use hand sanitizer before entering and opens the door for them. Throughout the entire Mass, parishioners stay six feet away from each other, even during Communion. After Mass, specially trained volunteers clean every single pew, wipe down doors and anything else parishioners may have had contact with.

Omar Javier Pena, parishioner and volunteer coordinator at St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus Parish in Premont said rounding up supplies was a bit of a challenge for them since they are a much smaller parish.

“Being in a rural area made it difficult to track down necessary supplies, so we opted to open to parishioners on the second week. It also gave us time to organize how we would adhere to the capacity limit,” he said. “Since 25% capacity for us means only 50 people in the pews, we decided to create a document where parishioners could sign up ahead of time, so our ushers could be prepared.”

For Lisa Cervantes, a parishioner at St. Philip the Apostle, returning to Mass was not a hard decision to make.

“We really missed being in the presence of our Lord in full communion. I believe Christ would not want us to live in constant fear. Furthermore, if I can go to H-E-B, I can go to Mass,” she said.

Cervantes and her family arrived at Mass 30 minutes early to guarantee a seat, since the seating capacity was limited. Their first Mass in two months was emotional.

“I’ll never forget the rush of emotions as I prepared to receive holy Communion and the tears that streamed down my cheeks,” she said. “After receiving the holy Eucharist, I was overcome with happiness and felt extremely blessed to be in his presence.”

Visit the Diocese of Corpus Christi’s website for a vast library of resources related to the coronavirus pandemic, including a copy of specific guidelines for Catholics returning to Mass at diocesecc.org/covid-19-updates.