Dear St Patrick Church Community:
We have the date for CONFIRMATIONS of Our Youth: Friday, July 31, 2020 at 5:30 PM
The Saturday 5:30 PM Mass for 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time has been uploaded here.
Given that the pandemic is ongoing with all of its risks for public health, the dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains in place indefinitely. You could consider switching your Sunday Mass to one of our weekdays, so that you can help us stay under the allowed 25% capacity on Sundays. Weekday Masses are celebrated Monday through Saturday at 8:00 AM.
Whether you decide to come on a weekday or on Sunday, please come only if you are not experiencing fever, persistent cough, shortness of breath, or body aches. The 9:30 AM Mass will continue to be livestreamed on our YouTube channel, so please tune in to bit.ly/stpatyoutube to join us from home. We will monitor on a weekly basis, and depending on the use of overflow space, more Masses may be livestreamed in the future.
When you come on Sunday or on a weekday, please wear a face mask, and maintain social distancing. Some Pews will be marked off. Please observe these guidelines:
- Please enter only through the main doors on 30th street, and exit through the side doors. In case of an emergency, if you need to exit during the middle of Mass, please use the door closest to you, in order to pass by the fewest number of people.
- Once the ushers count to 75 people, you will be directed to overflow space in the hall, by going around the church on Dwight Street and entering through the sidewalk doors of the hall.
- There are spacing requirements for seating:
- Please approach the furthest available pew toward the altar in the church, or the projection screen in the hall.
- People who do not belong to the same household must be seated at least six feet apart.
- People from the same household may sit closer together.
- If your household is at least three people coming together, you will have the whole pew.
- If you are coming as a couple, please sit at one end of the pew. Another couple or a single individual may sit on the other end of the same pew.
- If you are coming as a single individual, please sit in the middle of the pew if it is empty. If there is a pew with a single individual sitting already in the center, two additional single individuals can sit in the ends of the pew.
- Before exiting, please wait for the priest to call your pew for communion / blessing at the end of Mass, and exit through one of the side doors. If you are in the Hall, a concelebrating priest or lay Eucharistic Minister will distribute communion by the doors leading to the parking lot. Please wait patiently for your turn to exit.
These past two months have revealed our dependence on God in a deeper way. During the Covid-19 crisis, we have become even more aware of our reliance on God. So many things are out of our control in this broken world, but maybe we have become more grateful for health and family, and other blessings. I have heard about positive changes in some families spending quality time together, for example.
On behalf of the parish I am deeply grateful for all of you who have supported us financially during these trying times. Although the total amount of collected funds dropped when we had no public Mass, those of you who continued to support us often made larger contributions. Thanks to you and the government loan, we were able to keep our staff working full time. We also had to spend more than we planned on maintenance: we tented and fumigated the church, we fixed a gas leak in the property, and we are continuing to repair areas of the roof that were found in disrepair when the roof was inspected prior to the church buildings being tented.
Thank you for your continued support! God bless you!
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Carlos Medina, OSA
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