Daily Masses Resume May 25 (with many restrictions)



Please read today's article in the Catholic Telegraph, with the breaking news that Archbishop Schnurr will be permitting publicly celebrated daily Masses beginning on Monday, May 25th (Memorial Day).  For background on this decision, see this article.

We are just finding out about this today, so it will take a little time to get the plan in place to restart those Masses.  We will communicate with you as much in advance as possible.

I do want to emphasize Archbishop's point that this will NOT simply be a return to the way Mass was celebrated before the shutdown in mid-March.  There will be many restrictions on people coming to these Masses, including total number admitted, how far apart they must be at all times in the church space, when to wear masks, etc.

Also, I want to emphasize that the obligation to attend Mass, including on Sundays, has been waived by the Archbishop for the foreseeable future.  As a result, he is urging those who are at risk (including the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) to remain home and make a spiritual Communion instead.  To protect your fellow Massgoers and priests, he is urging all those who are ill in any way to stay home (even if the illness is very mild and you are certain that it is not related to the novel coronavirus).

We will have more information soon.

I have not finalized what the daily Mass schedule will be.  However, it is likely that I will offer the usual Mass schedule that we had in place before the shut down:

* Monday, Friday at St. Peter's at 8:30 a.m.
* Tuesday, Thursday at St. Mary's at 8:30 a.m.

However, note that the Mass for Memorial Day only (the first day of public Masses resuming) will be at 9:00 a.m. (schedule for civic holidays) at St. Peter.

It is almost certain that we will be registering Massgoers in advance and will not be able to guarantee admission for those who have not previously registered.

We have not determined the weekend schedule yet for Sunday Masses.  This may be different than the pre-shutdown schedule due to complications and changes in the way Mass is celebrated (will probably take longer than usual).

Please continue to monitor this blog for updates and instructions on how to register to attend Mass. 

It is very likely that we will have to institute some kind of "lottery" system since I expect there will be more wanting to attend Mass than spaces available with adequate social distancing.

Thanks for your patience as we continue to navigate our way through these uncharted waters.


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