Our Lady Of The Atonement Parishioner Tests Positive For COVID-19 After March 15 Mass

Several visitors have sent me a link to this story in San Antonio media:

A parishioner at Our Lady of The Atonement Catholic Church tested positive for COVID-19, according to a letter to the congregation from Rev. Mark Lewis.

The individual, who is now self-quarantined, had attended Mass on Sat., March 14 at 10 a.m. and on Sun., March 15 at 11 a.m.

The person's symptoms "seem to indicate the exposure was recent," Lewis wrote on Thursday.

Lewis, the pastor at the Northwest Side church, said he was informed Thursday afternoon that a parent of a student at The Atonement Academy had tested positive for the virus. The Academy is a private, K-12 school attached to the church.

It's worth pointing out that although a direct cause of the infection can't be absolutely attributed to the mass, Bp Lopes instructed his clergy via a March 11 e-mail to follow local diocesan protocol, and Abp Gustavo canceled all San Antonio public masses on March 13. In addition, since the OLA masses were the only ones in San Antonio that weekend, an observer noted that the numbers attending appeared to violate local civil guidelines on public meetings as well.

Also, Fr Lewis had rather defiantly informed the parish that reception of the Sacrament via intinction, which offers no alternative to receiving on the tongue, would continue, and this would have been the practice in the masses on March 14 and 15. A visitor commented,

I'm worried now, my husband and I were at the same Mass on Sunday as this person, but we're not parishioners.

So Fr Lewis acted with disregard for the safety not only of his parishioners but also of Catholics in the local diocese, who attended mass at OLA from misguided good intentions. This simply does not reflect well on Fr Lewis or Bp Lopes. who by his admission resisted canceling masses until March 18 and presumably looked the other way when Fr Lewis disregarded the iffy guidelines from his bishop, as well as those of the civil authorities.

My wife and I did attend mass at our Los Angeles archdiocesan parish on March 15. However, the parish had suspended reception of wine some weeks earlier and as of that weekend suspended reception on the tongue. In addition, those in attendance were within local civil guidelines of fewer than 50 and were seated at a prudent social distance. Neither of us has shown symptoms. Our archdiocese canceled all public masses a day or two later.

According to the CDC, symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath.