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During pandemic, Cardinal Gregory has encouraged Catholics to turn to Christ

Then-Archbishop Wilton Gregory celebrates Mass on May 31, 2020 at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Chaptico, Maryland, his first public Mass after the coronavirus shutdown that began in mid-March. As local jurisdictions eased their restrictions on the sizes of public gatherings, Masses resumed in the Archdiocese of Washington, with churches adopting strict safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)

At his May 21, 2019 Mass of Installation as the new archbishop of Washington, Archbishop Wilton Gregory encouraged Catholics of the Archdiocese of Washington who had endured the storm of the clergy abuse crisis to trust in Jesus, who had calmed the stormy seas as He rode in a boat with His disciples.

Jesus “invites us to place our trust in Him… He wants nothing more than for us to trust Him to bring us back safely to shore and even be bolstered by the trials that we have endured,” the archbishop said at the Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

By March 2020, people in the Washington area and across the country faced another storm, as the coronavirus pandemic left sickness, death and economic suffering in its wake. In the months since COVID-19  swept through the country, Cardinal Gregory has encouraged his flock in the Archdiocese of Washington to remember that Christ is always with them.

In a March 12 statement when he announced that Catholic school campuses would close and public Masses would not be celebrated in Catholic churches in the archdiocese for the time being in accordance with government recommended restrictions to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, then-Archbishop Gregory said, “My number one priority as your archbishop is to ensure the safety and health of all who attend our Masses, the children in our schools, and those we welcome through our outreach and services.”

Archbishop Gregory, who also issued a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass to parishioners of the archdiocese during the pandemic, added, “We are profoundly saddened that we are not able to celebrate our sacraments as a community for the time being, but we know Christ remains with us at all times – specifically in times of worry like this… May the peace of Christ settle any anxieties and fear we may have. Let us continue to pray for the people whose lives have been impacted by the coronavirus as well as those who continue to care for them.”

Soon after, in a video message filmed in his chapel,  Archbishop Gregory encouraged local Catholics during that period of quarantine from the virus to find a quiet place in their homes where “you can speak to the Lord and present your needs, your hopes, your dreams and your fears. He is present in all our lives, and He listens attentively to all His children… We are still united in Christ even though we are not able to be together for the Eucharist.”

In his March 19, 2020 “What I Have Seen and Heard” column for the  Catholic Standard newspaper, Archbishop Gregory noted that “even in the uncertainty of this current situation, if we are open, God will use this moment to bring our hearts closer to Him and more firmly in union with one another.” 

Archbishop Gregory concluded that column by expressing hope that, “This disease will not get the best of  us; rather, we implore our merciful God to use it to bring out the best in us.”

In a March 25 interview, Archbishop Gregory said he believes that “without a doubt what this crisis has done, is help bring to the fore both the generosity and selfless spirit of our people,” and he said he hoped that people would be inspired to reach out in a safe manner to “the people who are alone, the elderly who live alone, the sick, the poor people that basically depend upon the charity of others to even survive.”

The archbishop said at a time when people in the country and even in the Church are divided, he hoped they might be united in the face of this challenge. “If we can capture a sense of our unity, our frailty, our common exposure, it might help us step back from the polarized nature that has seemingly captured us,” he said.

In Archbishop Gregory’s April 2, 2020 column for the Catholic Standard, he noted that families staying at home during the coronavirus shutdown might find opportunities to pray together.

He said parents over the years have often lamented that they wished they had spent more time with their children “because of the press of outside interests and obligations that usurp family time.  The moment we are now living through can be a relief for that situation. In spite of the inconveniences that our situation imposes upon all of us, there are graces to be discovered even therein.”

Archbishop Gregory expressed hope that with the help of prayer, “we will all survive this moment and learn to love God and one another more…”

Marking his first Easter as the archbishop of Washington, Archbishop Wilton Gregory celebrated the Easter Vigil in a livestreamed Mass on Holy Saturday, April 11, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in the nation’s capital, and encouraged people to seek the risen Christ who reveals Himself in today’s world.

“Easter is the feast that urges us not to look for Him in the tomb, but to remember He always goes before us, if we only take the time to search for Jesus with our hearts and our eyes open and always eager to find Him,” the archbishop said in his homily.

At the Mass, prayers were offered “for the sick and the dying, especially those suffering from the current pandemic, that they may be freed from their infirmities and re-created in the life of the risen Christ,” and “for our deceased brothers and sisters, especially those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus, that they may rise to the new life of the victorious Christ.”

In Archbishop Wilton Gregory's April 30, 2020 column for the Catholic Standard, he noted how Catholics proclaim “Alleluia” to praise God, especially in the Easter season, but he acknowledged that it might seem difficult to say that word in these challenging times.  

“As we are currently sequestered in our homes because of COVID-19, we might not give much thought to all the wonderful ways that God continues to bless us. During moments like we are now experiencing, we might tend to forget that God’s goodness is still to be found in our families, in our faith – even when we cannot share personally in the ritual celebrations that mean so much to us. God is good all the time, and it is simply our responsibility to discover and to reflect upon how God’s generous love has touched our lives,” the archbishop wrote.

He added, “There are many things that bring anxiety and sorrow to our lives at this time. We listen to the mounting lists of those who have died because of this virus. We are shocked at the numbers of people who have lost their jobs because of the economic wreckage that this disease has brought to the entire world. We worry about the vulnerable people who are frightened because of the spread of this pandemic.”

But the archbishop noted signs of hope, pointing out that “even in the midst of the sorrow, there are expressions of spontaneous gratitude for the selfless service of so many medical staff persons, first responders, generous benefactors, and ordinary people who rise to the occasion with their charitable service. All of them deserve an Alleluia.”

In mid-May, the Archdiocese of Washington sent a letter to local priests, notifying them that parishes could resume celebrating public Masses on May 25 in jurisdictions that allow them. The archdiocese also sent priests recommendations on planning for the resumption of Masses, with safety measures including Mass goers wearing masks, using hand sanitizer as they enter church, and maintaining a social distance from others in pews and as they receive Communion.

In a video message to local Catholics that day, Archbishop Gregory said, “In these past months, in the face of the coronavirus health emergency, we have experienced challenges and hardships unlike any we have ever faced as a nation, a people, or a Church. Our best and smartest first response – as in all things – is to turn to the Lord who comforts us and strengthens us. Our Lord walks with us and guides our way forward.”

Presiding at his first public Mass since the coronavirus shutdown, Archbishop Gregory on May 31 celebrated a Pentecost Sunday Mass at Our Lady of the Wayside in Chaptico, a country church in Southern Maryland, where local officials had eased restrictions on the sizes of public gatherings. 

In a June 24 letter from Archbishop Gregory to people of Archdiocese of Washington on resumption of Masses, he noted, “During this time of social distancing, we have found new habits of prayer and action. I pray that as we return to public Masses, we continue to nurture our lives with the ways we have done in the past few months, incorporating our new habits of increased private prayer, time with our families, and acts of love and kindness toward our neighbors. Each of these new habits draws us closer to Jesus and prepares us to receive Him in the Eucharist.”

In an article titled “Pandemic Healing Must Find the Courage to Address Inequities,” published in the summer 2020 Health Progress journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Archbishop Gregory wrote that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, people's eyes should be opened to the “disproportionate consequential effect of those inequities upon people of color, the poor and the elderly.” 

In the article, Washington's archbishop wrote that “we must follow the path to those who are suffering and to challenge the social realities that intensify the suffering of particular segments of the population.”

In August 2020, the Archdiocese of Washington announced its reopening plan for local Catholic schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that after extensive planning, each Catholic school in the archdiocese developed its own reopening plan and had the plan reviewed and approved by the Catholic Schools Office’s reopening schools task force and will resume classes in a matter they have determined is best for their local school community. 

As the reopening plan was released, Archbishop Gregory said in a video that a great deal of planning was done to research and implement safe practices for return – which for schools offering in-person learning includes mandatory mask wearing, social distances in the spacing of desks, and temperature checks upon students’ arrival. According to the archdiocese, as the 2020-21 school year began, 28 percent of its 91 Catholic schools were following the distance learning model, 49 percent were providing a blended learning model, and the remaining 23 percent were following a modified classroom option.

That fall, in an Oct. 4 statement on Pope Francis’s new encyclical, Archbishop Gregory said, “The title ‘Fratelli Tutti’ quotes St. Francis, who reminds us that we are all brother and sisters, no matter our race, creed, country of origin or where we now reside on this good Earth. I believe that this document has come to us at precisely the right time. COVID-19 obviously has not yet ended. Many have spoken about a ‘new normal’ when the virus will have abated. Rather, I think that we should make this tragic pandemic an opportunity to think about ‘a new different’ in terms of what we value, who we value, and that we are all in this together.”

In a Nov. 26, 2020 Thanksgiving letter to the people of the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal-designate Gregory said, “We thank the Lord for guiding us through these difficult months of sickness, shutdowns and social distancing. We praise Him for the care and dedication of health care providers, first responders, and volunteers, who have selflessly continued to serve others, demonstrating the virtues of faith, love, hope and mercy to those in need.  As a community, we are incredibly grateful for compassionate neighbors and for the generosity of people like you, who have supported these works of charity. We are blessed and tremendously grateful for the many people who have ensured that we can resume public worship and safely reopen our schools in various ways. 

“This year, many of us will experience a quieter Thanksgiving holiday celebration than in years past. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to present public health challenges that require an adjustment to our usual holiday customs and traditions. These past months have truly altered how we live our daily lives. Still, we are grateful to God for the strength, patience, and mercy we have received to persevere.” 

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