There’s no question the strain of the pandemic is hitting every area of Canadians’ lives as the year draws to a close.

Cardinal Thomas Collins has approved a short service to give parishes in lockdown regions within the Archdiocese of Toronto the option of offering Holy Communion on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day while maintaining the 10-person limit in churches.

Catholics across Canada will mull whether they should attend Christmas week Masses in person or if they should just stay home and watch a virtual service.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court, once again siding with houses of worship opposed to pandemic-related restrictions, ordered lower federal courts in Colorado and New Jersey Dec. 15 to reexamine state-imposed indoor worship restrictions.

WASHINGTON -- The Archdiocese of Washington has petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to lift the 50-person cap on indoor religious gatherings in D.C.

Catholic churches in York Region and Windsor-Essex County are joining Toronto and Peel Region in lockdown Dec. 14 following new restrictions to battle the pandemic by the Province of Ontario.

Once again our Catholic churches are closed in Toronto. Perhaps by the time you are reading this that will have changed. It is unlikely, but possible.

VANCOUVER -- Public health officials in B.C. have extended the existing bans on events including public Masses until Jan. 8, meaning no public in-person Christmas or New Year’s Masses this year.

As many Canadian provinces experience some version of a second lockdown, “normal Christmas is, quite frankly, out of the question,” as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told us during a Nov. 20 press conference.

ROME -- As rumblings and grumblings grew in the press and on social media, the permanent council of the Italian bishops' conference met to discuss the problem of Christmas "midnight Mass" when the government has imposed a 10 p.m. curfew as part of its measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

AMMAN, Jordan -- The worsening coronavirus pandemic and economic conditions in Syria are further deepening poverty and hardship for Christians, who find themselves trapped in a political stalemate, religious freedom advocates say.

As Toronto and Peel Region officially went into lockdown on Nov. 23, they joined Good Shepherd volunteers who have already been in lockdown for 10 months.

Truer words have never been spoken than Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix’s methodical castigation of the Quebec government failure to consult the province’s religious believers on COVID-19 planning.

WASHINGTON -- In a 5-4 decision issued just before midnight Nov. 25, the Supreme Court lifted the pandemic restrictions on congregation sizes at houses of worship imposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The second wave of COVID-19 has hit many Canadian Catholics where it hurts most — the shutting down of public Masses. Churches from coast to coast are feeling the impact, with the suspension of public Masses in and around Canada’s most populous city, Toronto, as well as those in Halifax, N.S., and the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba.