California bishop lifts Sunday obligation for Catholics fearing deportation

The Diocese of San Bernardino reported that attendance for Spanish language Masses across the diocese was down 50 per cent since deportation raids began last month.

Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, California granted a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those within the diocese who fear deportation.

The bishop said all of the faithful within the diocese who possess “genuine fear” of arrest while attending Mass are dispensed from the obligation until further notice, and are “encouraged to maintain their spiritual communion with Christ and His Church through acts of personal prayer”.

In a statement on 8 July, Rojas said the decision to grant the dispensation came after he recognised that “fear of immigration enforcement raids by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may deter some members of our diocese from fulfilling the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation”.

According to John Andrews, the director of communications for the diocese, attendance for Spanish language Masses across the diocese has been “down about 50 per cent” since around the time raids began in southern California last month.

Andrews told CNA the diocese is aware of two recent instances of ICE enforcement actions on church properties, with both taking place on 20 June.

One of the instances, he said, occurred at St Adelaide Church in Highland and “involved several men who had been working in the neighbourhood where the church is located”. The men were chased into the church car park and detained, according to Andrews, who said “we do not know whether these men were actually arrested”.

The second instance occurred at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Montclair, and “involved the apprehension and arrest of one man who was on parish property to do landscaping work”, Andrews told CNA, adding: “He and his family are longtime parishioners there and we know that he was arrested and ultimately sent to a detention facility in Texas.”

“There is real fear gripping many in our parish communities,” said Rojas in a separate statement to CNA. “I want our immigrant communities to know that their Church stands with them and walks with them through this trying time.”

Under the Code of Canon Law, a bishop may provide dispensations for the faithful under his care “whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good”.

“I know that they would be in church if not for this threat to their safety and their family unity,” the bishop added. “With all the worry and anxiety that they are feeling, I wanted to take away, for a time, the burden they may be feeling from not being able to fulfil this commitment to which our Catholic faithful are called.”

In the announcement on 8 July, which was also signed by the vicar general Mgr Gerard López, Rojas said that priests within the diocese must seek ways to provide support to those affected, and that parishes must also “explore alternative means of catechesis and sacramental preparation for those unable to attend regularly”.

“In issuing this decree, I am guided by the Church’s mission to care for the spiritual welfare of all entrusted to my care, particularly those who face fear or hardship,” the bishop said.

In May, the Diocese of Nashville also granted a Sunday Mass dispensation to “those in our diocese [who] are concerned about the possibility of being confronted or detained while attending Mass or other parish events”.

An ICE spokesperson told CNA: “While ICE is not subject to previous restrictions on immigration operations at sensitive locations, to include schools, churches and courthouses, ICE does not indiscriminately take enforcement actions at these locations.”

“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” the spokesperson noted. “All aliens in violation of US immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removed from the United States.”

In January 2025, the Department of Homeland Security removed places of worship from its sensitive locations list, allowing ICE agents to carry out immigration enforcement procedures.

Following a legal action from a group of 27 religious organisations, ICE was temporarily blocked in March from carrying out deportations in places of worship. However, a federal judge in April found the organisations did not have legal standing, thereby allowing operations to continue.

In an interview with the CNA last week, Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and current fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, expressed doubt that ICE would carry out extensive raids in Catholic churches.

He said that while it’s possible a dangerous criminal could be targeted for enforcement at a church, “it’s not like they’re going to sweep through Sunday Mass looking for people”.

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