Coronavirus

After caring for Bay Area seniors including dozens of priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco for almost 60 years, the Sisters of Nazareth are closing the doors of Nazareth House in San Rafael.

For Our Lady of Loretto Parish, the closure of its church to public Masses from March to October had a silver lining.

The Spanish Conference of Religious has announced that September 29 will be observed as a day of prayer for the 357 religious who have died from the novel coronavirus during the pandemic in Spain.

In an essay published this month, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois argued that months-long lockdowns in response to the coronavirus are an extraordinary means of saving life, and are therefore not morally obligatory and should not be coerced by the state.

No matter how rich or poor, no matter whether newly arrived or from families that have been here for many generations, it is our Catholic faith that unites us, and it is because of our Catholic faith that we are being put at the end of the line.

MONTREAL -- The Quebec government took religious leaders by surprise by announcing Sept. 20 that the maximum number of people allowed to participate in an event in a place of worship would be lowered from 250 to 50 in all regions of the province, starting Sept. 21.

Catholics in San Francisco marched in eucharistic processions across the city on Sunday to protest the city’s continued restrictions on public worship.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone penned an op-ed in the Washington Post this week citing the First Amendment as he called for city officials to relax the current restrictions on public worship, which are some of the strictest in the country.

Personal health fears, long-term isolation from family and friends, a polarized political and social landscape, and inability to find solace in public Mass and sacraments are the top sources of stress and anxiety for Catholic San Francisco readers in 2020.

SAN ANTONIO -- Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio said that "we do not know exactly what God has in store for us," but he hopes that while "we wait and work" for this COVID-19 crisis to be over, it will not "just be an episode in history from which we recovered."