Mons. Alberto Rojas, Bishop of San Bernardino in the State of California (United States), has granted a dispensation of the obligation to attend the Sunday Mass to those in the diocese that fear being deported.
The bishop said that all the faithful of the diocese who have a genuine fear of being arrested, while attending Mass, are exempt from the obligation until new notice and are encouraged to maintain their spiritual communion with Christ and their church through acts of personal prayer.
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In one July 8 statementRojas said that the decision to grant the dispensation occurred after recognizing that “the fear of immigration control raids by the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) can dissuade some members of our diocese of complying with the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and days of saving.”
According to John Andrews, director of communications of the diocese, assistance to masses in Spanish throughout the diocese has “decreased around 50 percent” since the raids began in southern California last month.
Andrews told CNA – Ewtn News agency, a company to which ACI Press belongs – that the diocese is aware of two recent cases of compliance actions of the law by ICE in properties of the Church, which occurred on June 20.
One of the cases, he said, occurred in the church of Santa Adelaida in Highland and involved several men who worked in the neighborhood where the temple is located. The men were persecuted until the parking lot of the Church and detained, according to Andrews, who added: “We do not know if these men were really arrested.”
The second incident occurred in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Montclair, and involved the arrest of a man who was in the parish property by doing gardening, Andrews declared CNA, and added: “He and his family are parishioners of the parish for a long time and we know that he was arrested and finally sent to a detention center in Texas.”
“There is a real fear that takes over many in our parish communities,” said Rojas in statements to CNA. “I want our immigrant communities to know that their church supports them and accompanies them in these difficult times,” he added.
The Canon Law Code He empowers the bishop to grant dispensers to the faithful under his care “whenever he considers that this contributes to his spiritual good.”
“I know they would be in the Church if it were not for this threat to their security and his family unit,” added the bishop. “With all the concern and anxiety they feel, I wanted to relieve them, for a moment, the burden they can feel for not being able to fulfill this commitment to which our faithful Catholics are called.”
In the July 8 statement, also signed by the Vicar General, Mons Gerard López, Rojas stipulated that the priests of the diocese should seek ways to provide support to those affected, and that the parishes must also “explore alternatives of catechesis and sacramental preparation for those who cannot attend regularly.”
“By issuing this decree, I guide me by the mission of the Church to take care of the spiritual well -being of all those confident in my care, particularly those who face fear or difficulties,” said the bishop.
Last May, the Diocese of Nashville also granted a dispensation of Sunday Mass to “those in our diocese (who) are concerned about the possibility of being confronted or detained while attending mass or other parish events.”
ICE: The agency “does not take indiscriminately coercive measures” in the churches
An ICE spokesman told CNA that “although ICE is not subject to previous restrictions in immigration operations in sensitive places, which include schools, churches and courts, ICE does not take indiscriminately compliance measures in these places.”
“The United States immigration and customs control service arrests foreigners who commit crimes and other people who have violated the immigration laws of our country,” said the spokesman, and added: “All foreigners who violate the United States immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if their deportation is determined in final order, be expelled from the United States.”
In January 2025, the Department of National Security eliminated the places of worship from his list of sensitive placeswhich allowed ICE agents to carry out immigration control procedures.
After a demand filed by a group of 27 religious organizations, in March it was temporarily prevented from ICE to perform deportations in places of worship. However, in April, a federal judge determined that organizations lacked legal legitimacywhich allowed its operations to continue.
In an interview with CNA last week, Andrew Arthur, former immigration judge and current member of the Immigration Studies Center He expressed doubts that ICE performs extensive raids in Catholic churches.
He pointed out that while it is possible that a dangerous criminal can be the objective of the authorities in a church, “it is not as if they went to the Sunday Mass in search of people.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA
Low Elhabbal
Madalaine Elhabbal is a CNA journalist based in the Washington DC office in EWTN. He has published articles in Catholicvote and has also worked as a foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.