MANILA, Philippines — Over two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipino Catholics are being strongly encouraged to return to the church physically for Sunday mass as the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines notes that the health crisis “has weakened.”
“With gratitude to God, the pandemic has weakened, and our official health experts have placed the country into more relaxed health protocols,” CBCP President Pablo Virgilio David said Friday in a circular.
He added, “These circumstances permit and oblige us to return to the normality of Christian life, which has the Church building as its home of the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Eucharist.”
During mass, Catholics receive what they believe is the body and blood of Jesus Christ through the sacrament of the Eucharist. Unlike other Christian denominations, Catholics believe the consecrated bread and wine truly become Christ’s flesh and blood.
With most masses going virtual since the start of the pandemic, many Catholics were deprived of this, leading to what David called a “painful and sad experience.”
But now that pandemic restrictions have significantly eased and people have returned to a semblance of normalcy, Filipino Catholics are being called back into the church to attend mass — physically, this time.
“We strongly encourage our faithful to return to the Sunday Eucharist with a purified heart, renewed amazement, and increased desire to meet the Lord, to be with him, to receive him and bring him to our brothers and sisters with the witness of a life full of faith, love and hope,” David said.
David also said there is a need to revisit the livestreaming of masses as he quoted the Church body that handles matters on sacraments which said that physical attendance to masses cannot be replaced by attending them virtually.
Despite the easing of restrictions and the perceived weakening of the pandemic, David assured that health protocols will still be in place at churches and other venues for liturgical celebrations.
“We make sure that our faithful are convinced that they are safe in our churches and venues for the liturgical celebrations,” he said.