Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As you have heard on the news by now that the President has declared a National Emergency in response to the spread of Covid19. Also, the Governor issued today executive orders in response to Covid19 which include the closing of all schools till April 13th and banning gatherings larger than 250 people. Along with all of this, I know there are questions that arise due to events around the parish. Around 6:00pm this evening I received a letter from our shepherd, Bishop Michael Duca, laying out what the diocese is doing in response to the governor’s actions today. You can read his entire letter in the News section of our website.
The main thing is that masses ARE NOT CANCELED at this time. Bishop Duca is offering a dispensation from the obligation of Sunday mass for all Catholics until April 13th. This means that you are not required to attend Sunday Mass until after this date if you are worried about your health or the health of a loved one. Bishop Duca also stressed that if you suspect that you might be sick, please stay home.
For a our parishes, I would like to announce the following:
We are maintaining our current daily and weekend Mass schedule. We will also continue our normal times for confessions and the Stations of the Cross on Fridays.
All events are occuring as scheduled unless otherwise noted.
I am going to remove the water from the holy water fonts at the request of our bishop.
We will continue the practices of not exchanging the sign of peace nor hold hands during the praying of the Our Father.
Encourage those receiving communion to receive on the hand.
We all know the situation is constantly changing as seen over the last 3 days. If there are any future changes, I will let you know soon as I receive something.
Let us pray for each other and ask the intercession of St. Roch, patron saint against epidemics.
Fr. Matthew