July 2 - Places of Worship Order re Singing & Chanting In Place

On July 2, 2020 Governor Newsom’s Office issued a new order concerning singing and chanting in “Places of Worship effective immediately. 

updated July 9, 2020
This order applies to congregational and choral signing.  

A cantor may sing parts of the Mass without engaging congregational singing (e.g., singing the Responsorial Psalm without the congregational response).  Since congregational singing does pose a health risk, priests and deacons are asked not to chant the usual parts of the Mass that would require a sung congregational response (e.g. “Amen” or “And with your spirit").
 
Regarding recorded music
Our worship needs to remain authentic and reflect the condition we face in the Church during this pandemic.  This (temporary) ban on singing is an opportunity to pray differently from what we are accustomed to doing — perhaps an opportunity for silence to emerge where we would ordinarily “fill in the gaps” that sometimes occur in worship.  Reciting prayers, acclamations, the creed, etc. can help us “hear” words we know so well in a different way.  Recorded music is not a replacement for full and active participation in the liturgy — it cannot fill a “void” or substitute for the voice we raise in living liturgy.  Instrumental music is certainly permitted, provided instrumentalists are socially distanced.

Places of worship must comply with all Cal/OSHA standards and be prepared to adhere to its guidance as well as guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).