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Church News
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We're starting Mass again!
Hi there....Business Manager Randy Mudge here. I hope that you are all well. It's sure been a tough few months, hasn't it? We wanted to give everyone in our parish family a heads up about our plan to start having Mass again on a regular basis.
Our area of geography has been released by the Bishop to move to Phase I of live celebration of Mass with people present, with adequate spacing, which for us means seating in every other pew.
- Our first public Mass and gathering with more than 10 people present will occur at 7:00pm on Wednesday, June 17th!!!
- We will have a weekday Mass on Wednesday evening at 7:00pm on June 17th and June 24th.
- We will have Sunday Mass for the first time on Saturday, June 27th at 5:00pm, and Sunday, June 28th at the regular times of 8am, 10am, and Noon. What a blessing that will be after all this time, won't it?? Father Vince Rosonke will be saying all 4 Masses. Please thank him for his service to us out of retirement when you get a chance. He's been a wonderful addition to our family for these difficult last months.
- After the weekend of the 27th and 28th, we will maintain weekday Mass on Wednesday only at 7pm until further notice. At this time, the priests that normally help us during the week are not able to pitch in and help as usual, because of their age and the increased risk associated with it. We will strive to maintain the regular Mass schedule on the weekends.
- If the weekend Mass attendance starts to overtake our limited, spaced capacity, we may decide to consider the Wednesday evening Mass as fulfilling our Sunday obligation.
- We are also evaluating how we might be able to project the Mass into the parish hall on a large screen TV. That will take a modest level of investment in technology to accomplish, and we would have to manage the reception of Communion there as well. This may take a few weeks to implement. We will need to watch the attendance numbers over the next few weeks. We certainly want to accommodate all that show up with eagerness and open hearts!
- Here's some basics about how Mass will work during this first stage:
- All Mass attendees will be asked to enter ONLY through the door on the SE corner of the church. Handicapped people will be allowed to enter through the chapel, and proceed through the chapel into the main church. We will NOT allow people to sit in the chapel to attend our regular Mass in the main church.
- Every other pew will be roped off. Proper distance should be maintained between people not in the same family.
- We will have only one line in the center aisle for communion. You will be asked to receive the Blessed Sacrament on your hands, and not on the tongue.
- Attendees of all ages will be required to wear masks. Please bring your masks. Spares will be available as needed.
- We will allow people leaving church after Mass to exit through the SE door at the back of church, or to walk down the hallway past the parish hall, and down the large staircase to the parking lot. Two exits only. Handicapped folks will be allowed to leave through the chapel out to the 42nd Avenue circular drive.
- We will not have collection baskets being distributed during Mass. There will be boxes at the church entrances for the purpose of collecting our weekly tithes.
- Additional ushers will be on hand to help manage people movement. Please fill in the pews in line with their instructions. With these limitations, we can't accommodate people wanting to be seated in specific places. Everyone must enter the pews from the main aisle and move to the left or right as far as they can, while maintaining proper distancing.
- Finally, we will need your help after Mass!
- We will have spray bottles and towels available in designated area after Mass for wiping down all the contact surfaces on pews, the doors, handles, etc.
- We ask whomever can stay afterwards for a while to help us wipe down surfaces. We're all in this together!!
These are the basics of Mass at this point. It will feel very restrictive and unnatural at first, but we very much need to be community again, and adapt to whatever precautions we need to, in order to keep everyone safe, and fervently pray for this virus to subside, run it's course, or be cured.
I'll post a video of what our church and Mass operating mode will look like later today or tomorrow.
Finally, we are now in the final stages of install for our new Live Streaming capability. We'll be selecting one of the weekend Masses to be live streamed as it happens. We don't know which one yet, but if you're home, you'll be able to watch it in "live" mode, or watch it in its recorded version later on. This new capability will come in handy for many parish gatherings, such as weddings, baptisms, and funerals, and anniversaries.
My best wishes to everyone!!!
Randy Mudge
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