"We Abandoned You": Arizona Priest Asks Forgiveness for Denying Eucharist During Pandemic

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A Catholic priest in Gilbert, Arizona apologized to his parish during his Holy Thursday homily for depriving the faithful of the sacraments during the pandemic lockdowns last year.

St. Anne Roman Catholic Parish pastor Fr. Sergio Muñoz Fita “asked forgiveness for having left” his parishioners “without the Eucharist for many weeks last year.”

“I feel the need to publicly apologize for the events of the past year. I am a priest, and therefore, in a small way, I represent the Church,” Fr. Fita began.

“When you come to me for advice, you are not looking for my opinion, which is as fallible and fragile as your own. You want to find the guidance and the truth that God has given to the Church.

“That is why, aware of this reality, I want ask for your forgiveness this evening. In God’s forgiveness, in the name of the Church, for my sins and hers. I ask for forgiveness for having left you without the Eucharist for many weeks last year.”

“Many of you, in the most difficult moments of the pandemic, turned to your father for bread, and we gave you a stone. We failed you by denying you the only food that could sustain your hope.

“We abandoned you when we should have been closest to you. For this, at this holy Mass, I ask your forgiveness.”

“The worst thing is that I cannot assure you that such a thing will not happen again. Because as far as I know, I have not heard anyone express regret for what happened.

“What I can promise you is that I will never again be a party to something similar. And that if obedience places me in such a situation again, I will withdraw so as not to be a responsible and guilty party to something that, even today, weighs on my conscience as the act of which I am most ashamed in my entire life.”