As of May 19th, capacity limits will be lifted.  However, Governor Murphy said we still need the six foot rule.  That means we'll continue with six Sunday Masses at St. John's with the current seating arrangement.  We can fit over 1000 people across the six Masses.  We had 567 inside our church last weekend.

     OCHD.org is reporting fewer and fewer numbers of new cases for Ocean County.  COVIDActNow.org lists NJ as the state with the 11th highest number of new cases.  We keep moving down in the ranks.  Thanks be to God.

     As far as I can tell, none of the recent changes announced by Governor Murphy affects what we do at St. John's.  We'll continue with our current plan until Bishop O'Connell advises us differently.

     This current plan includes adapting to the growing number of people coming to Mass.

     Please pray for our 8th grade students, most of whom will be confirmed this evening at 4 PM and 6 PM.  Two will likely be confirmed on May 18th because of the need to quarantine right now.  Even with very few numbers of new cases, some people are still contracting COVID-19 which prompts others to quarantine.

     Because of the pandemic, the bishops of New Jersey have transferred the celebration of the Ascension from Thursday, May 13th, to Sunday, May 16th.  We celebrate Our Lady of Fatima on May 13th.

God love you,

Fr. Jim