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People at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., form a queue to enter a tent erected to test for coronavirus March 19, 2020. (CNS photo/Andrew Kelly, Reuters)
March 20, 2020
Catholic News Service
At noon March 20, the diocese also closed all churches in the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, the territory covered by the diocese. All rectories also were closed for business at noon, and parish office business will continue by telephone only.
"As a result of the closures, funerals, weddings and baptisms will not be permitted in church," the diocese said. "This is because limiting them to 10 people is proving not to be feasible." The sacrament of reconciliation will be limited to emergencies only, and spiritual counseling will be provided over the phone.
The Brooklyn Diocese had canceled all public Masses as of March 16 until further notice.
One of the priests with the confirmed case is from Sacred Heart of Jesus in Glendale in Queens. He last celebrated Mass March 15 at 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. He also was at the soup supper March 14 in the church basement. The other priest celebrated Mass at St. Matthew’s Church in Crown Heights in Brooklyn March 15, at 11:30 am.
"Both churches and rectories now will undergo a deep cleaning and sanitization, with approved disinfectants, following guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
With regard to the earlier confirmed cases, all of the churches in these parishes involved "have undergone or are undergoing a deep cleaning and sanitization, with approved disinfectants" following CDC guidelines, the diocese said in a statement.
In a video message taped in the chapel in his residence, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn urged the faithful in the diocese to seriously heed the advice of government officials and health professionals are giving about how to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
As these officials advise, he said, "we really do need to stay at home so that we can curtail the spread of the virus, we really do. It has been a difficult time for most of us, especially since we've had to cancel all public Masses in an effort to curtail this virus."
"We all must understand that this is a critical time in the history of our country and in the world. This pandemic can cause many, many deaths and certainly many people have been sick," Bishop DiMarzio said March 19. "We will be keeping in touch with you on Facebook and on Twitter. We can't be far from God's word and God's company even though we might not have the sacramental life that we would like."
Speaking on the feast of St. Joseph, patron of the universal church and the protector of Jesus and Mary, the bishop said: "We ask him to be our protector, to protect us from this virus, protect us (while) being confined at home. Let us ask his intercession. We go to Joseph, the powerful saint, with great confidence, asking him" to intercede for us.
Bishop DiMarzio, whose message was broadcast on vimeo.com in English, Spanish and Italian, reiterated that "we must take all the precautions necessary, (do) all the things we that we're told to do. Please stay at home especially if you have underlying conditions, please make sure that you are following all the instructions."