FALL RIVER – When 2020 was young and the New Year’s Eve confetti still littered Times Square in midtown Manhattan, Bishop Edgar da Cunha had ambitious plans for his sixth year leading the Catholic Diocese of Fall River.
But then the novel coronavirus upended everything.
“We had so many plans going on before the pandemic,” Bishop da Cunha said in a Dec. 9 interview with FRCMedia.
With the calendar about to turn the page on 2020 to a year where a COVID-19 vaccine is expected to begin returning some normality to everyday life, Bishop da Cunha, 67, reflected on the previous nine months, the lessons learned and the insights gained.
Speaking during the third week of Advent, the Christian liturgical season that precedes Christmas, da Cunha – who became the bishop of Fall River in September 2014 – emphasized the spirit of hope that permeates the holiday season.
“My hope for the next year is that once the restrictions of the pandemic are over, we can be free to reopen our churches, reconnect with people and celebrate the sacraments,” da Cunha said.
Highlights of the interview, which was conducted via Zoom:
Like most dioceses, the local church in the Diocese of Fall River has felt the financial pinch during the pandemic. Collections are down, and fundraisers for parishes, schools and ministries had to be canceled.
“At this point, we really don’t have a full picture of the impact,” da Cunha said.
“Obviously, fewer people are coming to church. The offertory (donations) have dropped in a lot of parishes. Many of them have gone to online giving and people have been generous. Some parishes are doing relatively well, and some are struggling. And we are working with them to make sure they survive and meet their obligations.”
Da Cunha noted that some parishes were already struggling financially before the pandemic. He conceded that a few of them might not survive the fiscal tailwinds of COVID-19.
“In the longterm, we may have to reevaluate and consider the necessity for the number of churches we have,” the bishop said.
Church attendance has been low during the pandemic. To comply with public health and social distancing protocols, churches cannot exceed 40 percent of their capacity. But weekly average Mass attendance is way below that.
“Some people follow the Mass at home [on television or live-streamed] and go to church after to receive communion,” da Cunha said. “So there are a lot of different ways that our parishes are managing that.
“We’re all hoping for the day that this is over,” da Cunha said, “When we get our people back reconnected with the parishes personally. Many of them miss that sense of community of having their family, friends and people they know all together.
“It’s a difficult time for all of us,” da Cunha added. “But considering what you hear from other states and other countries, I think we are doing relatively well.”
Asked how he himself has coped during the pandemic, the bishop said he prays “a lot.”
“I think even my way of praying has been impacted,” da Cunha said. “But in a positive way because I really need a lot of time to pray and for reflection, and talk to the Lord about all that has been going on.”
Like most people these days, da Cunha said he is feeling more isolated than usual and is thankful for the opportunity to visit parishes and preside over liturgies like confirmations and Sunday Masses.
“Celebrating those confirmations, going to the parishes, connecting with young people and their families, has been a source of nourishment to me, spiritually and pastorally,” da Cunha said.
Da Cunha still has hopes for a revitalization of the Diocese of Fall River, adding that the church has already hired some people to renew core ministries, especially its outreach to youth and young adults.
“I’m hoping we will be a new church, a new diocese. I want to do a plan of revitalization,” said da Cunha, who added that the pandemic has at the very least given him and others in the diocese an opportunity to “evaluate a lot of things.”
“I’m hopeful I can mobilize the whole diocese to say, ‘Let us all wake up. This is a new moment. Let us embrace a new mission of renewal.”
Da Cunha commented on the Vatican’s recent release of a 450-page report that detailed how Church leaders, including Pope John Paul II, ignored sexual abuse allegations in promoting former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked last year after a Vatican tribunal found him guilty of sexually abusing minors.
“It was a difficult moment for the church, a very sad moment,” da Cunha said. “It’s difficult to read some of the things in that report, to see past failures that we look back and wish had been addressed differently and deal with differently.
“It also shows how the church is moving in a new direction how the church is taking these things now much more seriously and differently,” said da Cunha, who added that the Vatican wouldn’t have commissioned something like “The McCarrick Report” decades ago.
“The church wants to be transparent. The church wants to be fair,” da Cunha said. “I think it shows we are all very concerned about young people, youth and vulnerable adults who maybe were taken advantage of, and how we’re addressing these issues much more seriously here and everywhere.”
The bishop was asked what he would remember the most about 2020.
“Obviously we’re gonna remember the pandemic, and how our lives were turned upside down,” da Cunha said. “But I also think we will remember that 2020 was a year that we were challenged in so many ways that people re-evaluated their faith and their values.
“It was a year where people really woke up to what is important and what is meaningful for life,” said da Cunha, who is understanding that many are disappointed that they will not be able to spend Christmas with their families this year because of coronavirus precautions.
“But maybe because there will be less [family holiday gatherings] there will be more celebrating what Christmas is about,” da Cunha said. “That could be a source of joy and hope and peace for all of us.”
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