Ite! Missa est." Taken with the implied female subject of "missa," the old Latin Mass dismissal literally translates as "Go! She [The Church] has been sent!" Or in other words, Grace having been extended and given, is now called to be lived out by those who were gifted it through Baptism and the other sacraments.

More commonly translated instead as "Go, the Mass is ended," the above rendering has the stamp of the USCCB website, representing as it does the United States Catholic bishops. And in that vein, local La Crosse Catholic bishop William Patrick Callahan has made an announcement: the Sunday Mass obligation will soon return to the local area, beginning with the weekend of June 26-27. Bishop Callahan's decision follows a previous decision last fall to not life the dispensation with Wisconsin's other bishops, as it was held by Bishop Callahan at that time that to do this would lead to a return of those conditions locally that had led to the obligation being lifted in the first place, back in March 2020.

Each Catholic bishop is deemed Vicarius Christi ("Vicar of Christ") within his local diocese and can impose or remit certain things according to Catholic Church law, unimpeded by the other bishops. The Catholic Church's supreme law, meanwhile, is the salvation of souls, per canon law.

Among Bishop Callahan's other decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic have been speaking on the morality of the

Johnson & Johnson vaccine as developed from cell line from

aborted fetal cells along with asking for the resignation of a priest,

Father James Altman of St. James the Less parish at La Crosse, after Father Altman used his pulpit to preach effectively partisan politics

last year, then failing to institute public health measures like social

distancing at his Masses, and most recently condemning COVID-19

regulations as a 'godless measure,' saying that the vaccine made people into 'guinea pigs.'

In regards to the matter with Altman, Bishop Callahan has

stressed that the decision is meant to be pastoral rather than penal, with previous efforts to address Father Altman's behavior being

unsuccessful.

The local reinstatement of the Sunday obligation to attend Mass in person, meanwhile, has to do with Catholic belief in the Eucharist and Incarnation, that God became man in Jesus Christ.

What is said of the Body and Blood implies something by analogy of Christ. As with Jesus, so to the Eucharist. Grace come to earth in material form, can only be fully realized in like manner. To attend Mass virtually for too long, risks obscuring the sign of grace in the world that is Christ and the Church. In which case the old

Latin Mass dismissal can be said to have an entrance equivalent: Ite! Gratia adest! Or in other words, "Go! Grace is present!" with 'grace' the expressed subject according to this rendering. The Diocese of Superior encompassing the Five Saints Parish cluster, has also reinstated the Sunday Mass obligation.

A cross of consecration on the grounds of the old St. Bede’s Monastery at Eau Claire. Cross photo circa 2017. Bish-

op's photo from Diocese of La Crosse website.

Diocese of La Crosse Bishop William Callahan