Dear Our Lady of Ransom Family,
Today I want to update you on the progress we have made surrounding COVID-19 and our gradual reopening process. The staff has spent the week trying to understand the plan that the Archdiocese of Chicago has given us. New information and procedures are coming out daily, so we are continuing to reassess and reevaluate our situation.
At Our Lady of Ransom, we are working hard to develop a plan that is faithful to the policies and procedures of the Archdiocese. Once we have accomplished that, we must submit an application for permission to reopen. We then wait to receive Archdiocesan certification. It is important for you to understand that by saying we can “reopen” the Church, it does not mean we will begin to celebrate public Mass. We have been given no timeline as to that and have been prohibited from including that in a reopening plan. If certified, we will have limited times available for: private prayer, confession, baptisms, and funerals. We are, however, still bound to a policy of no more than 10 people in the Church at any given time.
Hopefully it is obvious that, regardless of what you’ve heard on the news, we will not be reopening tomorrow. My guess is that it will be three weeks or so until we have been certified by the Archdiocese. I hope I am wrong about that, but we must make sure everything is attended to before we can move forward.
Moreover, we know that being open will not mean that we can be open every day. We simply don’t have the resources to sustain that. There will be small windows throughout the course of the week that a limited number of people will be able to use the Church.
To execute the Archdiocesan plan will require a significant team of volunteers. Based on our current projections, we will need 50-60 volunteers willing make a weekly commitment for an indefinite period of time. Moreover, any volunteers must be under 65 years old and free from complicating medical conditions. We are still understanding and defining the roles for our volunteers. Once we do that, I will reach out asking for anyone who might be generous enough to help us.
I thank you for the patience that you have shown and appreciate your continued waiting. I look forward to the day that I can welcome you home.
He is Risen!
Fr. Matt Bozovsky