Bishop Relaxes Mass Attendance Requirement Amid Immigration Raids

In response to heightened fears over immigration raids, Bishop Alberto Rojas has lifted the obligation for Catholics in the San Bernardino Diocese to attend Mass. This decision reflects ongoing concerns about safety amid federal enforcement actions.

In a significant move reflecting the current climate of anxiety surrounding immigration enforcement actions, Bishop Alberto Rojas of the Diocese of San Bernardino has announced that parishioners should feel free to skip Sunday Mass if they have a “genuine fear of immigration enforcement.” This guidance, shared through a letter on Tuesday, applies to the approximately 1.6 million Catholics in the Southern California area.

The decision to alleviate the obligation to attend Mass is rare and typically reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic. As immigration enforcement intensifies, with recent reports showing about 2,000 arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the Los Angeles area since early June, many individuals, particularly immigrants, have expressed concern about their safety in public spaces.

Incidents reported include ICE agents detaining individuals in places such as shopping center parking lots and outside businesses, further fueling the climate of fear. In one notable case, armed agents apprehended a Latino man outside a church in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, raising alarm among local community leaders.

Bishop Rojas's directive follows similar statements from other dioceses, such as Nashville, which previously articulated that attending Mass should not come at the expense of personal safety amidst the threat of immigration raids. This action underscores the broader implications of current immigration policies and the diverse responses within faith communities aimed at protecting their members.