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A Southern California bishop issued a rare decree on Tuesday excusing churchgoers from attending Sunday mass amid fears of immigration raids and detentions across the country.
The dispensation by the diocese of San Bernardino, California, is in response to the Trump administration’s mass deportation operations.
On Tuesday, San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas announced his decree.
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Alberto Rojas, Bishop of the Diocese of San Bernardino Ordaining Prelate and Principal Celebrant, performs the Laying On of Hands onto transitional deacon Julian Plascencia during the deacons’ Ordination to the Priesthood mass at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Chino Hills. (Getty Images)
“All members or the Faithful in the Diocese of Jan Bernardino who, due to genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions, are unable to attend Sunday Mass or Masses on holy days of obligation are dispensed from this obligation,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Rojas encouraged parishioners to engage in alternative spiritual practices.
Normally, Catholic bishops have issued such decrees during times of natural disasters, war and other extreme events.
“In issuing this decree, I am guided by the Church’s mission to care for the spiritual welfare of all entrusted to my care, particularly those who face fear or hardship,” Rojas wrote.
The Diocese of San Bernardino is the sixth largest in the United States, and serves around 1 million Catholics in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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Tuesday’s announcement came after immigration authorities conducted an operation at a Los Angeles park a day earlier. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appeared at the scene demanding an end to the raid.
“They need to leave, and they need to leave right now,” she said at MacArthur Park. “They need to leave because this is unacceptable!”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has heavily criticized President Donald Trump over his illegal immigration crackdown, said the decree was in response to the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, including immigration raids on courthouses and public spaces.
“Freedom of religion? Not in Donald Trump’s America,” Newsom wrote on X. “People now have to choose between their faith and their freedom.”
In response to his remark, a White House spokesperson noted that Newsom closed churches during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many churchgoers without a place to worship.
“This is rich coming from Gavin Newsom who shuttered churches during the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened the movie industry, marijuana dispensaries, and other secular gathering places,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Religious Americans were locked out of their places of worship because of him. Newscum doesn’t care about religious liberty, he cares about flip-flopping around to try and exploit everything he can for perceived political gain.”
Catholic priest and author James Martin praised the move by the diocese.
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“It is a dramatic sign that not even Catholic churches are considered safe places any longer. Where are the voices for religious freedom now?” he wrote on X.
In May, the Diocese of Nashville issued a similar decree in response to immigration enforcement activities.
“Our churches remain open to welcome and serve our parish communities, but no Catholic is obligated to attend Mass on Sunday if doing so puts their safety at risk,” the decree said at the time.