Salvatore Joseph Cordileone comments on the Supreme Court ruling California cannot ban indoor worship during pandemic.
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Remind me of a ring pop,
you guys remember: the ring pops
will theyre still here,
Jedediah in a big win for
religious liberty, a Supreme
Court ruling yesterday that
California cannot completely ban
indoor worship amid Covid 19, but
it can cap indoor services at
twenty five percent.
Will here to react is the
archbishop of San Francisco
good morning, archbishop
thanks for being with us.
First, your reaction. You can
have services up to twenty five percent. Thanks
to the Supreme Court of the
United States,
your reaction
naturally im very pleased
and encouraged by this decision
of the Supreme Court.
I said from the very beginning
of these lockdowns. We accept the
authority of the government to
tell us what we have to do to
keep our people safe when we
worship, but the government has
no authority to tell the church
it cannot worship or issue
restrictions so severe to
practically ban public worship.
We voluntarily suspended worship
services early on in the
lockdown to cooperate with
government officials.
When things were opening up
restaurants, opening indoor
retail stores, we were banned
from worship, we began trying to
dialogue and talk to work with
government officials, but we
werent get anything where t was
very frustrating and very
worrisome, because the government
has no authority over the church.
In this regard,
the decision of the Supreme
Court then is very encouraging
and reassuring to us.
Will part of that decision.
Mr Archbishop,
here is a quote from justice.
John Roberts says the states
present determination. Maximum
number of adherents worship in
the most calf news cathedrals is
zero, reflects not expertise or
discretion, but not interests. At
stake
sounds like smart talk from
common sense.
Empty cathedrals could allow for
proper social distancing.
You still cant sing. Am I
right, Mr Archbishop?
No congregational singing
a Cantor can, for example,
singing in a separate sercs,
so that is still a problem.
That is is still a concern for
us.
I think there are ways we can
sing safely, but that will see
what the court decides.
The case is still pending
the case.
Jedediah Archbishop, when you
think of Aftra, is diddal service.
You think of some singing. Some
interaction:
how do you manage that in terms
of transforming the service, and
how do you also manage that cap
at twenty five percent?
Do people sign up for services
ahead of time?
You know, I think the church
would probably not want to have
to turn people away.
How does that all work,
some parishes to have people
sign up online?
Our churches have pews roped off
to people stay six feet apart
around places marked on the
pews,
then we have ushers who welcome
people and seat them,
so we do have ways of monitoring
it.
As I said, many parishes do have
a reservation system to make
sure nobody has to be turned
away.
Will a bishop congratulations
getting twenty five percent of your congregation
back into worship?
We wish you luck on the ability
to sing and chant and get back.
Transcript generated on 2021-03-09.