The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued an order for Limited Time Mitigation on Thursday, December 10, 2020. The order from Governor Wolf and Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, includes this stated exception: “Churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and other places of congregate worship are specifically excluded from the limitations set forth above during religious services. These institutions are strongly encouraged to enforce physical distancing and other mitigation measures at their gatherings.”

Today, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that current liturgical guidelines developed by the Archdiocesan Office for Divine Worship and approved by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez remain fully in effect. This includes the Directives for Advent and Christmas and the Guidelines for the Application of Safer at Home Restrictions in the City of Philadelphia.

These Archdiocesan Directives strongly encourage physical distancing and the other mitigating measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 during the celebration of Mass. No parish in the five-county Archdiocese is to suspend or cancel the public, in-person, celebration of Mass on Sundays, Christmas, and weekdays.

All Archdiocesan liturgical guidelines can be found on the Office for Divine Worship’s website: http://www.odwphiladelphia.org/news/.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will continue to stream the 11:00 a.m. Mass live from the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul every Sunday. The Archdiocese will also stream the 5:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass; the Solemn Midnight Mass on Christmas Day; and the 12:00 p.m. Christmas Day Mass. All Masses will be streamed via https://vimeo.com/event/17522.

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Editor’s Note: For comprehensive information about the pastoral and temporal response of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit https://archphila.org/covid19/.  

Contact: Alaina N. Longo

Deputy Communications Officer

215-587-3747 (office)