A BRIEF UPDATE ON PARISH LIFE
AT CHRIST THE KING
First and foremost, I hope that you and all your family members are physically, spiritually and mentally well. I have been and will continue to remember you and all of our parishioners in my prayers each day.
I don’t have to remind you that the way we live our lives has dramatically changed over these past five months. We’ve all gone to great lengths to protect ourselves and our loved ones. The result (here) is a remarkably robust and healthy parish community. I say this from my experience of seeing hundreds of you each weekend and being in telephone, email and physical contact with so many others. Let us all pray that this trajectory continue.
Regarding the sick, very few of our parishioners in nursing homes tested positive for the coronavirus. A couple of those parishioners died (some months ago). The others have recovered and are now in good health. I have only heard of one other active parishioner (not in a nursing home), and that secondhand, who tested positive. That person is not sick at this time.
Since we priests were given permission to return to local hospitals to visit parishioners (some weeks ago) I’ve been going to the hospitals when I learn that a parishioner is there. It is important that you provide us with that information. St. Vincent’s Hospital can always provide us with information about our parishioners; UMass-Memorial never can. So, your personal communication with me is vital.
I have also been bringing Holy Communion to parishioners in their homes.
Visitation to local nursing and rehab centers is much more restricted, however. When called upon to offer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for those in danger of death I have responded in each instance. These calls, however, have been rare.
Relative to recent deaths among our parishioners there have been only two deaths during the months of June, July and August. Neither died as a result of the coronavirus. I have celebrated the funerals of a few others here who are not parishioners (that happens throughout the year, every year) but none were due to the coronavirus.
WORSHIP LIFE AND LIMITS
We have now been offering public Masses (daily and Sundays) for more than three months. At daily Masses (7:00 am, Monday through Friday; 8:00 am on Saturday) a typical size congregation is between 35 and 40 persons. Saturdays is always higher since only three parishes in the Diocese offer a Saturday morning Mass and we happily receive those from other parishes (all the time!). Two weeks ago we had 90 persons at that Mass.
We’ve been averaging between 200 and 300 parishioners (total) participating in our 4 Lord’s Day Masses each weekend. It varies a bit with vacation plans.
For the first couple of months since “the re-opening” all parishes were asked to observe the Commonwealth’s regulation of 40% of legal occupancy (570 persons at Christ the King) for worship services, which in our case would be 228 persons. At a “Sunday Mass” we’ve never exceeded 100 persons so we’ve never been close to the limit and have never had to deny anyone admission (as have some parishes in other parts of New England and the country).
A few weeks ago, the Commonwealth’s Phase-In Plan for worship services jumped to 50% of legal occupancy. That translates to 285 persons for Christ the King at a single Mass. Even in our pre-Covid experience it would be a rare Sunday indeed that we would achieve that number at a single Mass.
Our daily Masses average 25 minutes. Our Sunday Masses average between 35 to 40 minutes (especially in light of the reduction of music). Everyone sanitizes their hands on entering the church. Everyone has their hands sanitized again at Holy Communion. Everyone wears a mask. Everyone keeps social distance (minimum of six feet apart) with the exception of families who can sit together. Thanks to a few families we re-sanitize the entire church after every Mass throughout the week. This means, for example, that the church is re-sanitized three times every Sunday morning. I know of no other public facility which so completely re-sanitizes that facility as frequently as we do and believe the church is a very safe place to be.
In light of that I do encourage the return of those who have yet to return for Mass.
THE USE OF OTHER MEETING SPACES
IS A DIFFERENT STORY
It is obvious from the above that a special accommodation is being provided by the Commonwealth to all churches for worship services. But it is quite a different story for non-worship events and gatherings for other purposes. Here the current limit is for only 10 persons in a hall or meeting space. Especially in light of what is permitted for worship services and strange as it might seem, ten persons is the legal limit for non-worship activities at churches (and, as you probably have read, 50 persons in an outdoor space for all kinds of gatherings).
For that reason, and for the time being, all our other meeting activities have to take place remotely. This impacts planned events like religious education, adult education, meetings, CYC, scouting, music rehearsals, A.A., etc.
Please note that I am just conveying information as it applies to churches. Obviously, public, private and Catholic schools will be operating under a different set of guidelines provided by the Commonwealth.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CLASSES
In light of the above, Judi Brennan and I have had to alter plans for religious education classes for this fall (until Christmas). We had spent the summer developing what we thought was a very safe plan for our religious education classes. With the exception of the Confirmation class, registrations for religious education classes have been very few. In light of the regulation (cited above) governing how many persons can be in a hall we were forced to plan a remote-learning plan for our classes.
All parents with school-age sons and daughters known to us have now received official word on this through an email.
Judi has begun to meet with catechists for training in our remote-learning format.
It is vitally important at this time to register your children for religious education classes if you plan to enroll them. The absolute deadline for doing that is next Thursday, August 20th. The weeks ahead will be filled with catechist-training and we have to know how many and what youths we will need to serve. Please register at this time. Forms were sent to parents in June and again, electronically, more recently.
You can contact Judi at 508-754-5361 or by email at ctkedu1052@gmail.com.
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If I can serve you in any way please call upon me. God bless you all!
Monsignor Tom Sullivan