Greetings Everyone, and may the joy of the Risen Christ be with you all.

Many of you, I am sure, were following Governor Baker’s announcement Monday morning with great interest. As the news outlets have reported, houses of worship will be allowed to reopen at part of Phase One of a general reopening of the Commonwealth. This might lead some to think that, starting this weekend, all Catholic churches, including our churches here in Stoughton, will be reopened for the celebration of Mass. While I can appreciate and am quite moved by, the desire of so many of you to return to the celebration of the Eucharist, I would caution patience and prudence at this time.

The primary concern of all of us — the Archdiocese of Boston and your parish priests — is for both your spiritual and your physical health. To ensure this, the churches in our archdiocese need to be adequately prepared to receive parishioners. We need the required disinfectants, proper signage and an adequate group of volunteers to ensure that Mass proceeds in the manner proscribed by the archdiocese. As I mentioned earlier in the week, there will be many additional stipulations. For example, the churches will only be allowed to open at 40% capacity. St. James has a capacity of roughly 700 people. Forty percent capacity would mean that the church can now accommodate almost 300 people (roughly 40% of 700.) However, if we institute the proper social distancing requirements — six feet between people, for example — that number drops by almost 75%. With the proper social distancing requirements in place, St. James can only allow a maximum of 84 people at each Mass. There are additional requirements. Choirs cannot be allowed at present, nor public singing (too much chance of coronavirus particles being released). Communion can only be given in the hand, not on the tongue under any circumstances. Everyone will still be required to be masked. There will need to be a sign-up system to ensure that we do not exceed the allowed amount of people at any given Mass. Bathrooms will need to be completely disinfected between Masses and, of course, we will need to be trained volunteers to do this. The Mass schedule will need to be altered. These are only a few of the many things your priests need to consider and have in place before we feel we can safely reopen. Additionally, we can only reopen once we have the approval of our local episcopal vicar. This approval may come at different times for different parishes. Some parishes may open this week, some next week, and some several weeks in the future. The earliest we will open is May 30/31 but more likely it will be June 6/7. I would plan on the latter date.

I know so many of you are anxious to return and receive Jesus again in the Eucharist. I am profoundly aware of how difficult this has been for you. I remember this and bring it to prayer every day in celebration of the Mass and in my rosary, as do Fr. Eduardo and Fr. Will. I hope this experience has given us all a deeper appreciation of just what a gift the Eucharist is. I hope we enter into the upcoming “Year of the Eucharist” (beginning on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 14, 2020) with renewed vigor and gratitude. 

You will notice that at the end of this column we have attached a short, two-question survey. 1.) Will you be returning right away? I understand some of you may still have concerns about leaving your home at this point. I encourage you to trust your judgement. Cardinal Sean has extended the dispensation regarding Mass, allowing you to watch it on our website (we will continue to tape it), Facebook, Stoughton cable access or Catholic TV. If you do stay at home, please remember that it is important that you still participate in the Mass through one of these channels. 2) Will you be willing to volunteer? The sooner we get volunteers, the sooner we can reopen for Mass. Please give this serious thought. We do not expect you to volunteer if you have compromised health in any way, or are in one of the high-risk groups. However, we can only reopen if we have enough volunteers. If you are in a position to help, please let us know. 

As I mentioned earlier in the week, it will in some ways be a very different experience we are returning to, at least for the time being. I think some of you may be quite shocked at just how different the church looks and how different the celebration of the Mass will look as well. Please remember that this re-opening process will happen in phases and we are only in the first phase right now. Restrictions will hopefully be lessened as time goes by. I would ask you again to please approach these next few weeks in a prayerful and peaceful way.  As always. you will be in my prayers every day until the day when we can gather together again. I will continue to update you as soon as I get additional clarifying information.

God’s peace to you, Fr. Joe

Why do people never eat clocks?   

Because it’s really time consuming.

During this ongoing pandemic, the Catholic Parishes of Stoughton has been consistent in promoting the health, safety, and well-being of our parishioners, staff, and members of our community. We are thankful that we have been able to provide opportunities and resources for you to remain connected to our parishes and to help you deepen your faith.

We want to know how you feel regarding the resumption of Mass in the Catholic Parishes of Stoughton.