EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 

AUGUST 2, 2020

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Pastor's Note:

Dear Parishioners,

I hope this note finds you well and that you are finding time to enjoy these summer months.  This past July was extra special this year in that we celebrated First Holy Communion Masses for our parish children.   Indeed, this was the highlight of the summer for many families!  I would like to congratulate each of this children on perhaps one of the most important occasions of their lives.  May they continue to grow in their awareness of the Lord’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament and in their eagerness to receive Him each Sunday.  

It is good to see people returning to church for Mass. Little by little people seem to be getting more and more comfortable with coming into the church building. However, for those who are not feeling well or due to age or other medical conditions, Mass will continue to be live-streamed.  We are currently updating our technology to bring you a higher quality live-streaming experience.  Please stay tuned!  

We continue to look for ways to improve and streamline our safety protocols with regard to keeping our church safe and sanitized.  In addition to our daily cleaning of the church, we are looking into the purchase of an electrostatic sprayer to provide another layer of defense against viruses.  All of the HVAC filters in the church were replaced a few months ago as we do each year. Within a week or so, however, as an added precaution, we will be upgrading the filters to a higher level of filtration that have a MERV 13 rating.   As long as we keep praying and do our best to maximize our potential with regard to prevention we will continue to grow through all of this.

You may notice when you come into the church that a few things have been changed in the sanctuary!   Fr. Reuben, Fr. George, and I got together this past Friday and did a little rearranging of the furniture.  The most noticeable change is the new placement of the presider’s chair from the center in front of the tabernacle to the right side of the sanctuary.  The thought behind this change was to avoid having anything or anyone blocking the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.  In addition, the kneelers were brought just inside the Communion rail to create a larger space in the sanctuary especially for times when we have additional concelebrants.  The altar servers will now be able to kneel facing the altar rather than from the side.   We will try this out for a while and see how it goes!  A special thank you to Sue Candido for arranging all of the flowers up by the tabernacle this week and for Frank Reames for all of the work he is doing to keep us safe and sanitized!

I would also like to take a moment to thank our parish trustees Mr. Peter Decina and Mrs. Theresa Janson, who have served our parish with great dedication and generosity for the past three years.  I am grateful for their support and guidance during my first year as pastor here at St. Anthony’s and enjoyed working with them not only with regard to their oversight of the fiscal needs of the parish but with respect to their input concerning many other areas of parish life as well.  New York State law stipulates that trustees may not serve more than three consecutive years in this capacity. Their terms ended this past July 31, 2020.  This has given me the opportunity to appoint two new trustees to St. Anthony’s Parish, namely, Mime Garcia and Rocco LaFaro.  I am looking forward to working with them as well and am grateful for their willingness to share their time and talent with our parish.  I intend to make a more official and proper introduction of our new trustees at a parish Mass in the near future and at the same time publicly and prayerfully express our gratitude to Peter and Theresa for their service to our parish.  Please keep them in your prayers!

For those of you wondering about the start of our Religious Education Program in September, Jean Jacksen and I will be taking a look at that this week and will be reaching out to the families of children in the program to open that discussion to you as well.  We will probably be setting up a meeting in the church and online through Zoom to facilitate that discussion.  We’ll keep you posted!

What good are five loaves of bread and two fish to thousands of hungry people?  That is the question of this Sunday’s Gospel and the subject of my homily this weekend.  By themselves, they are quite useless in the face of so many starving people.  In the hands of Jesus, however, the impossible becomes possible. Sometimes we look at what we have or maybe who we are and feel like it’s just not enough to deal with life and its challenges.  The answer is always the same.  Give it to God.  This is what the boy did with his bread and fish. Are you worried about the number of bread and fish you have to offer?  All that matters to Jesus is how much trust we have in Him, not the quantity of bread and fish.  There are so many people in the world that our Lord wants to feed.  Do you have any bread and fish?  What is it that Lord is asking you to place in His hands today?  Maybe it’s something you have been holding on to for a very long time and trying to accomplish on your own. Give it to Jesus just like the boy in today’s Gospel.  He multiplied those few loaves of bread and fish to feed thousands.  Imagine and believe in what He will do with what we place in His hands and heart!  All we have to do is pray, “Jesus, I trust in you.”

Have a wonderful week everyone.  Know that you are kept in prayer.

Your local shepherd,

Fr. Tom

Reminder of some scheduling changes:

Please note that there have been three changes to the Mass schedule.  The Saturday morning Mass is now at 8 am instead of 9 am and is now consistent with the 8 am weekday Mass schedule.  The Sunday morning Mass is now 10 am instead of 10:30 am to allow for an hour between Masses to sanitize and prep for the following Mass.  We have added the 6:30 pm Mass in Spanish back into the Saturday evening schedule.

A 7:30 pm evening Mass has been added to the schedule along with a Holy Hour from 8 pm – 9 pm Monday through Friday.

Confessions will continue to be held from 4 pm – 5 pm every Saturday and Fridays at 8 pm.  Confessions are now held in the lower church to allow for more effective social distancing. Please enter the social hall through the Harrison Street side of the church next to the rectory. Please do not use the stairway in the church.

Live-Streaming:

Live-streaming will continue indefinitely and will follow the regular Mass schedule for now with the exception of the 8 am Masses Monday-Friday.   Please see the website to stay current on changes and updates to this schedule.

Reminder of Temporary Protocols for Mass:

1. 
   

   The obligation to go to Mass is still suspended. Many people are still rightfully cautious and perhaps even feeling very apprehensive about leaving their homes and are being very careful about avoiding public places in order to reduce the risk or chance of catching or spreading the coronavirus.  Even though the churches are open to the public for Mass, you are not obligated to come.  In fact if you are 65 and over and/or have an underlying medical condition and/or if you are currently sick you are strongly encouraged to stay home.   

2. Please bring a mask to church.

3. Although we have sanitizer available, it is recommended for you to bring your own personal supply.

4. The pews of the church as well as high contact areas such as door handles and light switches are sanitized in-between each Mass by volunteers.  At the end of Mass we need about six people to help with this.  If you could stay for a few minutes afterwards that would be most helpful.

5. Please follow the arrows with regard to traffic flow. The only entrance to the church is through the main door on the left along Gainsborg Road.

6. Seating is limited to about 125 people in the upper church due to social distancing regulations. Basically there is a two row separation between each individual or family.  Please do not sit in the roped off sections or where there is an orange “x”. In the event that we exceed 125 people, we can accommodate up to 80 people in the lower church where Mass will also be made available.

7. The “Sign of Peace” will not be offered at this time to reduce contact and potential transmission of germs/viruses.

8. There is also no collection taken up during the Mass for a similar reason as #7 above.  Instead, a basket will be placed in the sanctuary of the church and at both exits for you to drop off any donation or offering you would like to make.  

9. Holy Communion will be distributed in the hand only at this time.  In order to avoid having people stand in line and risk the possibility of infringing on the recommended six foot separation, only a section of the church will be called up at a time.  You will notice a sanitizing station in each aisle for you to use if you wish before coming forward to receive Holy Communion.  When receiving Holy Communion, please wear your mask as you come forward and have your hand open and as flat as possible so as not to make contact with the priest or minister’s hand as the host is placed vertically in your hand.  When returning to your seat, please do not walk back down the same aisle you came up for Holy Communion.  Instead, please follow the arrows.

10. Hymnals and Missalettes will not be used at this time.  Bulletins will only be distributed electronically through Flocknotes at this time as well.