As Covid-19 continues to spread, I want to highlight a few of the procedures that make the privilege of celebrating the Eucharist possible during a pandemic. Remember you can transmit this potentially deadly virus without even knowing you have it, so the rules are all about caring for others, not about your beliefs about freedom, sickness and death.

• The ushers will seat you as you arrive.
• All MUST wear masks that cover both the nose and mouth while they are in the church building. Wearing a mask protects your neighbor, so it is an act of charity toward your brothers and sisters in Christ.
• All are to receive communion seated as far back as possible and in the hand. The positioning of our pews doesn’t allow for a safe distance between you and the minister were you to kneel or stand. These temporary measures will subside once the pandemic is over and the normal custom of standing to receive our Lord from both the plate and cup will return.
• Be seated after the closing song. The ushers will dismiss you pew by pew. Household units MUST stay at least six feet apart as you leave church.
• No hanging out in groups in church after mass. The time for that will come again once the pandemic is over.
• Vulnerable individuals should stay home. This includes but is not limited to; people over 60, pregnant women, people with compromised or weakened immune systems, people with serious underlying health conditions, members of households with vulnerable individuals, or those whose profession brings them into contact with vulnerable individuals.

We have the power to slow the spread of this virus by observing the procedures we’ve learned in the past months and thereby bring some relief to our overburdened healthcare system.

Fr. Mike