They never used canon law to protect your access to the Latin Mass, but now they’ll bend it to excuse illegal immigrants from attending Mass altogether.
The bishops have found a new sacrament: sanctuary through selective canon law.
This week, Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino issued a diocesan decree dispensing illegal immigrants from their Sunday Mass obligation, invoking Canon 1247, the law that binds Catholics to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days unless excused for “a serious reason.”
His rationale? Fear of ICE.
“There is a real fear gripping many in our parish communities,” he wrote, “that if they venture out into any kind of public setting, they will be arrested by immigration officers. Sadly, that includes attending Mass.”
So now, in 2025, healthy adults who violated immigration law can be excused from their divine obligation to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, based on the fear of being justly punished by the state.
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TAKE ACTION: Contact Bishops Rojas and Spalding and let them know what you think.