The following is a list of the most read local stories from 2020 at TheCatholicSpirit.com. They are listed in descending order by the highest number of views

1. Archbishop responds to priest’s controversial homily on COVID-19. Priests should not use homilies to “present medical or scientific speculation,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, responding to a homily Father Robert Altier gave at St. Raphael in Crystal Sept. 6. The parochial vicar of St. Raphael, Father Altier preached a 20-minute homily questioning the severity of the novel coronavirus pandemic and calling COVID-19 a man-made virus used by world leaders to instill fear. In the homily, he said he rejected the three major vaccines in development on moral grounds, and that he had advised his elderly parents not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The homily was posted on the parish’s website.

2. Pandemic inspires Father Joncas to compose hymn ‘Shelter Me.’ Father Joncas, a prolific liturgical composer whose best-known hymns include “On Eagles’ Wings,” said he woke up in the middle of the night March 25 with a “nagging idea.” He had been praying about the coronavirus, and wondered if music could play a special role in these uncertain times.

3. Minnesota’s dioceses preparing to resume limited public Masses May 18. Following Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order and a suspension of public Masses March 18 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and the state’s other bishops released a multi-phase plan May 1 to prepare for parishes to reopen for in-person liturgies. The bishops’ suspension of Catholics’ obligation to attend Sunday Mass continued.

4. Archbishop: Join Pope Francis March 27 for extraordinary blessing. Archbishop Hebda called the “urbi et orbi” blessing “an extraordinary opportunity for grace” while standing near a portrait of Pope Francis in a March 26 video. Explaining that the Latin phrase means “to the city and the world,” he said “it’s the blessing the pope normally imparts on Christmas and on Easter, and it’s certainly something that we need in the midst of these challenging times.”

5. COVID-19 prompts Archbishop Hebda to suspend Sunday Mass obligation. Related to story No. 3, in light of an increasing number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Bernard Hebda March 12 suspended the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Public Masses continued to be celebrated in the archdiocese’s parishes for six more days, until Archbishop Hebda suspended in-person Masses as COVID-19 spread in Minnesota.

6. Priest draws on his own health issue in ministry as Minneapolis hospital chaplain. In July 2009, Father Marcus Milless, then seminarian, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. He spent the entire school year undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments. But in April 2020, standing outside of Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis where he had spent the last two-and-a-half years serving as a hospital chaplain, the 32-year-old priest said knows his cancer journey motivated him to pursue hospital ministry, even in the midst of a pandemic.

7. Sign of the times: What to make of Black Lives Matter. For some, like 79-year-old Cedric Waterman, “Black Lives Matter” is a statement of fact that needs to be said in a country where, even after slavery and discriminatory laws have been abolished, the lives of Black people still seem to be undervalued. “It’s a cry of ‘What about me?’ Does my life matter?” said Waterman, who believes BLM is also a rallying call for reforming the way law enforcement interacts with the Black community. Others, like Bill Butchee, 71, don’t disagree that they and their fellow African Americans face discrimination, but they question whether Black Lives Matter is the proper vehicle for change, and express deep concerns about what they perceive as an anti-family, anti-Christian ideological agenda associated with the movement.

8. Small-scale public Masses to resume May 18, but MN bishops working to expand permitted attention. Related to stories Nos. 3 and 5, parishes were permitted to resume public Masses May 18, but had to limit attendance to 10 people, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a May 15 letter. At that time, Minnesota’s Catholic bishops were working to determine when larger Masses would resume in light of Gov. Tim Walz’s plan for the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 20, the bishops announced they were going to move ahead to resume Masses at one-third capacity, despite the state’s directives limiting faith-based gatherings to 10 people. After conversations, the bishops and Walz decided that faith-based gatherings of 25% capacity were reasonable.

9. Archdiocese forming team of priests trained to anoint Catholics dying of COVID-19. As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota climbed in April, Bishop Andrew Cozzens led efforts to build a team of priests who can respond to requests for anointing of the sick for people who may be in danger of death from the novel coronavirus. On April 17, he and Archbishop Bernard Hebda sent a letter to priests seeking volunteers, and by the next day, the response had already been generous, he said. More than a dozen men would respond, anointing hundreds in the months that followed.

10. “Christ is passing by”: Minneapolis priests take Eucharist to the streets. On March 24, four priests conferred with a map of northeast Minneapolis split into quadrants and headed out on their designated routes. Each had the Eucharist with them — in a monstrance or pyx. In four cars, they drove through the neighborhoods, blessing them and the people who live there as they prayed the rosary and other devotions. Some parishioners came to their doors or yards to pray. Some followed in their cars, forming an impromptu procession. For many Catholics, the blessing was a welcome connection to the Eucharist. Since March 18, public Masses had been suspended in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. The eucharistic blessing was one of the many ways priests found creative ways to continue to inspire faith amid the COVID-19 pandemic.