As the Rio Grande Valley observes and reflects on the somber one year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, another community is reflecting on another COVID-19 related anniversary coming up this week.
Thursday will mark one year since Bishop Daniel E. Flores announced the suspension of Mass throughout the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville.
Flores said that he is inviting people to fast on Thursday as an offer of prayer for victims of COVID-19, their families and those who are fighting the virus.
“(March) 18 — that’s Thursday — it marks a year since I announced that we were going to suspend the Masses,” Flores said. “It’s just kind of a day to remember and a day to pray. Fasting is part of prayer. It’s a way to pray.”
Thursday’s fast is not mandatory for Catholics, and does not necessarily have to be food related, Flores said.
“One of the things that I want to do on Thursday, in addition to anything else, is maybe put my phone away for a little bit because I need to fast as well on the technological side,” Flores said. “It can dominate our lives. That too is kind of a sacrifice that you can offer to God. There’s lots of things that you can fast from that shows that life is not just about what you have, it’s also about what you can give.”
In the year since Masses were suspended, the church has undergone a number of changes in order to safely meet the spiritual needs of the community including virtual Masses, limiting the number of parishioners inside church services, and cancelling popular events like Fall and Spring festivals.
“I think that people still feel that it was a kick in the gut,” Flores said. “It interrupted what we’re most used to as Catholics in terms of how we get together, how we celebrate Mass and how we do things.”
Churches continue to hold Mass with 50% occupancy, social distancing and face mask requirements. With Gov. Greg Abbott’s rescindment of the statewide mask mandate and allowing businesses to reopen at 100% capacity, Flores said that he plans to observe the number of new COVID-19 cases, deaths and the number of people being vaccinated for a few more months before he decides on any sort of changes to the church’s COVID-19 protocols.
“I’ve done some consulting with civil officials, and ultimately the bishop is responsible for how all parishes operate, so I told folks that we’re not going to remove the masks,” Flores said. “We’re going to require masks at least for a while — my guess is maybe the next two or three months. We’ll have to watch a couple of key numbers before I start relaxing protocols of the churches, like the distancing and the masks.”
He said that a large portion of parishioners are vulnerable to COVID-19, and therefore he must take their safety into consideration despite access to the vaccine.
“It’s one thing to choose to go to a restaurant or not, depending on the protocols, but I have a responsibility — the church does — to think first of the vulnerable,” Flores said.
He hopes to gradually increase attendance at masses in the next few months and increase religious education programs such as CCD, which has been virtual.
“I don’t think there’s ever going back to opening things up to the way they used to be,” Flores said. “I think we all have to be more careful. I also think the church has learned something about what social media and technology can do to help us and what it can’t really do so well. I think we’ll try to build on what it does do well — it keeps us connected when we have to be — but it’s not a substitute for being around people. That’s kind of part of what the gospel is about. Jesus was around people. A normal life in church — that is what I’m hoping we’ll be able to get back to sooner than later.”
Father Roy Snipes of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission said he anticipates a vigorous return to normal church life in the near future as more people receive their vaccinations.
“They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and there’s a lot of tender, sweet truths to that,” Snipes said. “We’re probably going to be a lot more careful. That will be interesting to see. The teachings are not going to change, but how we express how we celebrate — we’re big on ceremony and we’re big on rituals because we say that communicates. The medium is the message that communicates the reality, and it’s beyond our comprehension.”
Snipes said that COVID-19 has severely tested his congregation in the year since the pandemic began. He said that despite the tremendous loss felt by his community, he’s seen strength in the wake of heartbreak.
“Our hearts are lacerated,” Snipes said. “On one hand we’re heartbroken and lonesome for the people that have been taken away. That seems cruel and unusual to us. We have lots of funerals every year. The angel of death comes for people we love, young and old, but this has been ferocious. But the spirit of love can do wonderful work in a broken heart.”
“You can become entailed by your heartbreak, and that’s happened to many of us.”
