With the state of Illinois under a “stay-at-home” order through the end of April, the Archdiocese of Chicago has issued a decree dispensing Catholics from their Easter obligations due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The decree was issued Sunday by Cardinal Blase Cupich.
Catholics are required to receive communion during the Easter season, but that obligation has been removed by the Church “due to the impossibility of attendance by the People of God at celebration of Holy Mass,” Cupich said in the decree.
Catholics are being encouraged to offer an “Act of Spiritual Communion” during what the church calls a “time of stress and difficulty” for the world. Finally, the decree urges Catholics to offer a “perfect Act of Contrition,” and asks believers to confess all serious sin “at the next available time.”
In mid-March, the Chicago Archdiocese suspended all public masses as a result of the coronavirus. Masses, including Saturday’s Palm Sunday mass at Holy Name Cathedral, are being livestreamed on the Archdiocese website, and next Sunday’s Easter mass will be streamed on the website, according to the Archdiocese.
