My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In recent months we have witnessed millions of people across our country and our world receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines. I join with our Holy Father in rejoicing that amidst “the darkness and uncertainty of the pandemic” this light of hope has appeared.¹

I also join with my brother Bishops in encouraging everyone to get the vaccine whenever it becomes available to you. As both the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have made clear, the reception of the presently available vaccines is morally justifiable and ought to be seen as “an act of charity toward the other members of our community.”²

Despite these clear signs of hope, however, the best scientific projections suggest that it will probably be many months before the impact of these vaccinations has a significant effect in abating the spread of COVID-19.

With a deep sense of longing for that day when we can worship freed of the present restrictions, most notably regarding the limitations on the size of our liturgical assemblies, I ask you to join me in praying for those researchers and health care workers who will make that blessed day come to be.

Conscious, however, that it is not possible under the present circumstances for us to accommodate the full number of the faithful in many of our churches, I am extending my suspension of the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation until the Solemnity of Pentecost, May 23, 2021.

For nearly a year we have prayed daily for “the faith to endure this hour.” As we enter the penitential season of Lent, may our Blessed Lord, who wept tears of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane and offered himself on the altar of the Cross for our salvation, give us the faith that he is not far from us on this way of sorrows. May he give us the graces we need to follow him, ever trusting in “the Son of Righteousness, who rises with healing in his wings.”³

Fraternally yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Robert J. McManus
Bishop of Worcester

¹Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi, December 25, 2020
²“Moral Considerations Regarding the New Covid-19 Vaccines.”  Statement by the Chairman of the Committee on Doctrine and the Committee on Pro-Life Activities United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. December 11, 2020 
³Malachi 4:2