Hard to believe it now but July comes to an end this Friday, it is time to think seriously about what the Fall will look like. I had expected that we would be at greater capacity in church now than we are. While last weekend saw an increase in people present, we are not yet reaching the 1/3 allowable capacity for Mass. Disappointing – yes; understandable – yes. However, it is good to see so many returning to the celebration of daily Mass. Likewise, our M-W-F confessions have also been going well. We will continue to phase in as the conditions and the diocese allows. Read more.
As we break through the mid-point of July I guess we have all come to the sad and troubling realization that life is not returning to normal any time soon. I hope that each of you are able to enjoy some downtime and relax from all of the stresses of the past five months. We need to continue our prayers for an end to the pandemic conditions and for a vaccine and a cure for the afflicted. Read more.
As July rolls along and the world around us seems to be more and more unsettled and confusing, meeting the challenges that come our way becomes more difficult. While we are opening up more and we see a progressive increase in cases in other areas of the country we remain prudentially cautious. Not as many of you have returned to regular Mass attendance – either on the weekend or for daily Mass – as we initially expected. We realize that some of you are still uncomfortable coming out or you are not happy about the need to get a ticket for an assigned seat, and we certainly understand that. It is our expectation to be announcing some procedural changes soon. We want to insure that everyone feels safe. It is difficult to do all of these things easily. The demands for the disinfecting of the church after each Mass add a level of limitation to what we can do. We have found it interesting that more people were attending Mass in the school gym than in the church. Read more.
Some quick news before my reflection: the bishop – after consultation with the governor, has expanded the attendance at daily Mass to 100 people, we will no longer require advanced notice of your desire to come to daily Mass. Feel free to come – wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, and entering/exiting through door #6 only. We are also ending the Sunday 8:00 a.m. Mass in the Gym, directing everyone to the church only. Read more.