Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
This is mostly a reminder since last week's Flocknote, but also a few updates, especially regarding the pre-registration for Masses. Next week we begin to welcome people back to Mass publicly. Things will be very different when we resume public Masses and the plan for our parishes may change at any given moment depending on how things go.
- The Bishop's dispensation of attending Mass is still in place, so no one is required to attend Mass. Anyone who has a fever, is sick or has a cough should NOT attend Mass. Please ask yourself these questions: Are you sick? Do you have a fever? Do you have a cough? If any of these are true, you should NOT attend Mass. If you are an vulnerable person during a pandemic, you should NOT attend Mass.
- Attendance at Mass will require a pre-registration. The registration can be found on our website to sign up for Weekend or Weekday Masses: https://www.opvcatholic.org/mass-times Folks not online will be able to call the office to register during the week. Registration will help us if someone attending informs us later of having Covid-19, we can alert the others attending the same service. Registered names will not be shared with anyone, unless required by civil law. Registration is open now for next week and the following weekend.
- In starting this, we will only be using two church buildings – St. Irenaeus (STI) and St. John the Baptist (SJB). We want to limit the number of churches that we need to clean, and we chose those two sites because they have hard surface pews that are more easily cleaned. Furthermore, frequent cleaning and sanitizing at St. Joseph (SJV) and Our Lady of Joy (OLOJ) could damage the cloth seats. Because St. Januarius (SJAN) is our smallest church, we won’t use it for weekend Masses at this time, but will keep the Monday night Mass. This in no way means that any of our churches will be closed after the pandemic. It’s simply what we can do during the pandemic with the special restrictions in this yellow phase. If we can safely and properly open more churches for Masses, we will do so. I’m hoping that if all goes smoothly, we can have at least one Weekend Mass at St. Joseph and one also at Our Lady of Joy Churches by the end of June.
- We will continue to livestream, but will need to livestream from the churches where we're having Masses. For the weekend, we will livestream from STI on Saturday and from SJB on Sunday, and throughout the week every 9 AM Mass.
- For weekday Mass-goers, we will keep the same times, but restrict them to STI and SJB (and SJAN on Monday night) as we begin. Weekday Masses at SJV will move to STI and weekday Masses at OLOJ will move to SJB for this phase. Monday night Mass at SJAN at 6:30 will still be there with St. Anthony and St. Jude devotions following.
- Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals are still limited to 25 persons, but since they are less frequent, we can use any church requested.
- Each church will have a designated entrance door and a designated exit door. Please follow the signage inside and outside the churches.
- Ushers and Greeters will welcome participants, check their registration and seat them in designated areas socially distanced. Ushers/greeters must be newly trained for Masses in this pandemic. We plan to train ushers/greeters an hour before each of the first weekend Masses in June.
- There should not be movement around during Mass. Plan ahead and avoid needing a restroom, but they will be open for those needing them.
- Everyone attending must wear a face mask. We may have masks available at the entrance. Suggested donation for a mask: disposable $1, washable $2. If you have a medical problem that you cannot wear a mask, you should NOT attend Mass at this time.
- Gloves are not required nor recommended. Handwashing is encouraged.
- Those assisting will be required to wash hands before and after Mass.
- Ministers in the sanctuary will keep social distance but do not need to wear a face mask.
- Holy Communion (hosts only) will be distributed after Mass is over. During Mass the priest and deacon will receive and then reserve hosts in the tabernacle. After Mass is over, clergy only will distribute hosts as people exit the building. Receiving on the hand is recommended, but communicants can receive on the tongue if desired. Clergy will distribute at designated Communion stations with hand sanitizer so if their fingers accidentally touch someone, they can sanitize before distributing the next host.
- Each Mass will have the following to serve: a priest and possibly a deacon, two altar servers, one lector, one keyboardist and one cantor. Choirs are not permitted at this time. Mature altar servers are preferred, so high school students and adults who may have served when young or willing to learn now.
- Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion will not be needed in this phase, so we are asking them especially to help with other roles during the yellow phase of the pandemic.
- We need at least 4 FOUR specially trained cleaners to clean and sanitize the church after Mass.
- Only priests and deacons will distribute Holy Communion. Extraordinary Ministers are encouraged to sign up as ushers/greeters and cleaners.
- Offerings will be collected AFTER receiving communion. Two ushers will stand near a lined waste basket where envelopes and donations can be dropped. After all donations are collected, ushers will then seal the lining into a security bag and place in the safe for counting later.
Of course, with the gradual move to public Mass, any of this could change as we move forward together in June. I’m tentatively scheduling our 12 permitted Masses for these times at BOTH STI and SJB, but we will adjust as needed, depending on attendance:
STI & SJB BOTH Locations for these times:
Saturday night – 4 PM and 5:30 PM
Sunday morning – 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM and NOON
For the first weekdays, only 25 people are permitted to register. For weekends, we can have up to 25% seating capacity. Let's continue to pray for patience as we adapt and adjust again to new ways to worship our God.
In Christ's love,
Father Kevin