The Tablet
April 6, 2021
Ann Torelli serves as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion during Easter Mass April 4, 2021, at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Islip Terrace, N.Y., amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz)
NEW YORK (CNS) — On Easter last year, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan looked out on an empty St. Patrick’s Cathedral amid the pandemic and thought, “Oh my God, I don’t mind an empty tomb on Easter but an empty church?”
“To see the folks back, even though we’re still limited to 50% capacity … sure means the world. Don’t tell anybody, I’m afraid we went a little over that today, but we were very careful,” he told the congregation April 4 in the cathedral that can hold about 2,000 worshippers.