Dear Parishioners,
Mass Attendance
The diocese would like to know how many people are coming to Mass as the pandemic winds down. So, we're including people inside and outside the church as well as livestreaming numbers. "Peak concurrents" are the number of screens watching live. "Views" are the number of screens watching a recording later. More than one person could be watching a screen.
Mass Inside Outside Peak Concurrents Views
4 PM 128 6 48 86
6 PM 59 2 21 109
8 AM 83 1 70 63
10 AM 84 7 50 34
12 PM 81 0 18 26
2 PM 93 5 18 38
Total 528 21 225 356
We tend to get a lot of visitors for Christmas, Palm Sunday, and Easter Sunday. If you exclude those days, than our 528 is much higher than our previous 474 on March 21st. But it's also higher than our 518 at Christmas.
We had plenty of room inside our church at every Mass. The ushers will continue to invite people to walk further into the church for a seat so that those with walking difficulty can sit near the canopy entrance.
The Word Among Us
We have restarted our subscription to The Word Among Us. It contains readings for daily Mass and reflections. The box is located in the sacristy. Ask an usher if you'd like a copy. We get 100 per month.
Holy Communion to the Homebound
I'm hoping that more pandemic restrictions will be lifted in the next three months. Even so, I think we can start having extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion bring the Blessed Sacrament to the homebound. We will wait for EMHCs and the homebound to contact us. The EMHC should probably have immunity from being fully vaccinated or having had the coronavirus. The homebound person may want to be fully vaccinated before receiving visitors. The visits should be short. Everyone should wear masks and stay six feet apart. Consider meeting outside the person's home. We want to be extra careful because most homebound are in the high risk categories.
Contact Joe Pittarelli for requests.
EMHCs at Mass
I'm looking for a few more EMHCs to help at Mass so that we can have two at each Sunday Mass and one at each daily Mass. Until recently, we only had EMHCs under 60. We're adding some over 60 who have been fully vaccinated. However, I'm looking for those with fast reflexes and can move quickly. We're trying to minimize physical contact between the EMHC and the communicant.
The greater need for EMHCs is for the homebound. Bringing Holy Communion to the homebound is also good training for distributing Holy Communion without making physical contact. You have only one or two people and can take your time.
God love you,
Fr. Jim