Friends in Christ,
I thought you might enjoy the video above, featuring members of our children’s choirs under the direction of Julie Farrell. The song is fitting because, as you may be aware, Archbishop Listecki has announced “The Catholic Comeback,” a new set of directives concerning the celebration of Eucharist in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to begin on Pentecost weekend, May 30th & 31
st
. You can access the
Arhcbishop's directives here
.
Our pastoral staff is already hard at work making preparations, and I will be reaching out to you in the weeks ahead with additional information and details. In the short term, though, I want to share a few thoughts as we approach this notable day.
- First of all, much as I’d love to tell you that it will be just like the days before Covid 19, this will surely not be the case. Things are going to look very different for some time;
- As an Archdiocese and here as a parish we will be doing our best to balance two critical priorities: access to the Sacraments and the safety of our community.
- I want you to know that our facility is the cleanest it has ever been! Keith Jameison and his team have been hard at work cleaning and sanitizing our spaces, and that work will continue in earnest;
- We know that there is a great variety in how we are all experiencing this health crisis. Aware of this, the Archbishop has lifted the Sunday Obligation through Sunday, July 5th so that families and individuals can make choices best suited to their particular situation. We will continue to make a livestream of the Mass available online during this transitional time;
- These directives are fluid and we fully expect the possibility that they will change. The guidance being given by the Archdioceses is being driven by the conditions on the ground in our communities and we realize that those conditions are in flux.
- We will need your help, your patience and your grace as we navigate this together!
We are all eager to reach the promised land of a day beyond this health crisis. In the meantime, it continues to strike me that our experience in this time is remarkably aligned with the Exodus story. Certainly, it is with great rejoicing that we will soon enjoy the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist together. However, though we may have made it out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, we will still be doing some wandering in the desert as we navigate this middle place, where our experience of worshiping together will be quite different from days past.
Let us trust in our God who has made a covenant with us. Let us trust that we are being led to something greater on the other side of all of this. And let us trust in one another, each of us doing our best to answer the call to Tell THE Story in this new normal.
Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tony Zimmer
