NEW RULES FOR SERVICES

1. IF SICK, COUGHING, SNEEZING, OR HAVE A FEVER, DO NOT COME IN.  YOU ARE EXCUSED FROM ANY OBLIGATION TO ATTEND MASS THIS DAY.

2. IF YOU ARE NOT FULLY VACCINATED (I.E., IT HAS NOT YET BEEN TWO WEEKS AFTER YOUR FINAL SHOT), YOU MUST WEAR A MASK OR FACE COVERING.  (WE HAVE SOME MASKS AVAILABLE ON THE TABLE IN THE VESTIBULE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ONE.)

3. HANDICAPPED AND COMPANIONS MAY SIT IN THE VERY FRONT ROW—ON THE RIGHT (ST. JOSEPH SIDE) IF ALL WEAR MASKS, ON THE LEFT (ST. MARY SIDE) OTHERWISE.

4.  EVERYONE ELSE MAY SIT ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE CHURCH THAT IS NOT TAPED OFF, EXCEPT THAT THE THREE AVAILABLE PEWS AT THE FRONT OF THE RIGHT SIDE ARE RESERVED FOR PEOPLE WEARING MASKS.  (ALSO NOTE THAT THE THREE AVAILABLE PEWS AT THE BACK OF THE RIGHT SIDE HAVE SOME SOCIAL DISTANCING BETWEEN THEM, BUT LESS THAN THE AVAILABLE PEWS AT THE FRONT OF THE RIGHT SIDE.)

5.  THERE WILL BE NO MORE SIGNING UP FOR SLOTS: IT WILL BE FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.  HOWEVER, EVEN IF YOU GET TO MASS EARLY, PLEASE DO NOT SIT IN THE PEWS RESERVED FOR THE HANDICAPPED IF YOU ARE NOT HANDICAPPED OR WITH A HANDICAPPED PERSON, OR SIT IN THE PEWS RESERVED FOR PEOPLE WITH MASKS UNLESS YOU AND THOSE WHO SIT WITH YOU ARE ALL WEARING MASKS.

Bishop Malloy has reinstated the obligation for Catholics to participate at Mass in person as of July 1, 2021.  This refers to the Sunday Mass obligation (which can also be fulfilled by attending a Saturday afternoon or evening vigil Mass), and the obligation to attend Mass on holy days of obligation.  If someone is ill or has some condition that makes it especially difficult to participate at Mass, they are excused while the illness or condition exists.  For those who are vulnerable such that it would be especially dangerous to contract COVID-19, and they are otherwise isolating from crowds, they too would be excused while that condition exists.  For others who are hesitant to attend, but are not vulnerable in this way, please talk to the pastor about your situation to see if some accommodation could be made, or perhaps a special dispensation could be given, to attend Mass on a weekday when there is no crowd or some other set of prayers.

We thank our wonderful volunteers who greeted people, checked them in, and diligently disinfected the church after each Mass during the height of the pandemic.  We still have our regular church cleaning volunteers (whom we also thank) who clean the church once a week, and we now ask them to disinfect surfaces people might have touched with their hands.

For those who do not attend Mass, it is good to be reminded of the age-old practice of spiritual communion. When one is not able to receive Holy Communion at Mass – whether because one is not able to attend Mass, because one is not properly disposed, or for some other reason – it is possible to make a spiritual communion, which can be described as “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament [in Communion at Mass] and in lovingly embracing Him as if we had actually received Him.” To do this, here is a prayer of spiritual communion:

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy
Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You
into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You
sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace
You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.