Archdiocese of Boston
Update to COVID Protocols
August 26, 2021
Regarding Safety Precautions at Masses
- All parishes are mandated to have clearly marked, clearly communicated, and clearly enforced areas of the Church for people who want to wear masks and be sitting only near people who are wearing masks.
- Pastors are urged to encourage (but not require) all participants in Parish activities to wear masks.
- Priests, deacons, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion should wear masks during the distribution of Communion and should disinfect their hands prior to the distribution.
- Pastors should clearly communicate the state advisory that all unvaccinated people are advised to wear masks indoors.
- Many municipalities within the Archdiocese of Boston are now requiring all people, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks indoors in public places. If the local community has that requirement, the parishes in that community must comply. Note that in the City of Boston, houses of worship have been exempted from that mandate. Parishes in the City of Boston are encouraged, but not required, to mandate masks.