Catholics in San Francisco, under the leadership of Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, are protesting current restrictions on Mass, CBS reported, and parishes throughout the country also face limitations.

Currently, the city of San Francisco has a 12-person attendance limit on outdoor Masses. 

In Michigan, direct limitations were not placed on religious services, as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Executive Order 2020-160 stated "neither a place of religious worship nor its owner is subject to penalty under Section 17 of this order for allowing religious worship at such place. No individual is subject to penalty under Section 17 of this order for engaging in religious worship at a place of religious worship."

Archbishop Allen Henry Vigneron of the Archdiocese of Detroit stated Aug. 14 that the dispensation from obligatory Mass was extended until Nov. 23, although Catholics must continue to keep Sunday's holy.

Cordileone also wrote that there are similar conditions for worship limitations in California, New Jersey, Maine, Virginia, Connecticut and Nevada.

In an op-ed written by Cordileone in the Washington Post, Cordileone decried San Francisco's response to public worship amid the COVID-19 virus, calling out the inconsistencies that exist in current allowances for activities. 

“People can freely go to parks here, as long as they stay 6 feet apart. If they follow proper social distancing and wear masks, people can eat on an outdoor patio with no hard numerical limit,” Cordileone wrote. “Indoor shopping malls are already open at 25% capacity. Catholics in San Francisco are increasingly noticing the simple unfairness. As one of my parishioners asked recently, ‘Why can I spend 3 hours indoors shopping for shoes at Nordstrom’s but can’t go to Mass?’”

A group of several hundred individuals in San Francisco recently participated in three marches at the churches of St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic Church and St. Patrick Church, then meeting with the archbishop at the City Hall. They then marched to the Cathedral of St. Mary the Assumption.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Facebook post stated, “There is no science that says only one person should be allowed to pray in churches such as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, which seats 2,500 people. There’s only one explanation for such a rule: a dislike of the Catholic Church.”