Hello Everyone, 

Beginning today, our churches will be open for personal prayer. 

St. John Church will be open from 8:00 a.m. until at least nightfall. 

St. Anthony Church will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

Please use provided sanitary wipes or spray found in our center isles to sanitize the area where you prayed. Sanitary wipes can be thrown away in the wastebaskets found in or near our bathrooms. 

Bishop Rice has lifted the suspension of the celebration of public Masses. 

We will resume our usual Sacrament schedule this evening (5/19/20) with Confession from 5:15 to 5:40 and Mass at 5:45. Mass will be at 7:20 Wednesday through Friday and the weekend will be as usual. 

Until further notice, the following directives for Mass are in affect at the direction of our Bishop. 

Please share this information with those who do not have access to our web site. 

The distribution of Holy Communion will occur after the Final Blessing in order to limit the movement of so many people during the celebration of the Mass. For those who receive Holy Communion, you may offer your quiet Prayer of Thanksgiving back at your pew before leaving church. While distributing Holy Communion, priests and Extraordinary Ministers are to wear a mask. Ministers are to bring their own mask. The distribution of the Precious Blood, which is always optional, will not occur. Those who sit in the choir loft at St. John’s will need to come downstairs to receive Holy Communion. 

To prevent the spread of the virus on hard surfaces, and to avoid the need to sanitize every book that was used after every Mass, all hymnals and missalettes have been removed from the main body of our churches. If you wish to follow along with the readings, you may bring your own personal Missal from home, such as a St. Joseph Missal or The Magnificat. Singing is limited to the Holy, Acclamation, Great Amen, and Lamb of God. 

During Mass, no gift bearers or Altar Servers are to be utilized. 

Ushers will not take the collection from the congregation. A basket is to be placed near the entrances to our churches so that individuals may place their offerings in the baskets before or after Mass. 

To cut down on hand-to-hand contact, bulletins are not to be passed out but may be picked up from tables or bulletin racks after Mass.  

The Sign of Peace, which is always optional, will not occur. 

The wearing of a mask or face covering by individuals is recommended but not required. As stated above, a mask is only required for priests and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion at the time Holy Communion is distributed. 

To maintain social distancing, seating will be available only in every other pew. The other pews will be roped off. While individual family members may sit closer together than six feet, a six foot distance is to be maintained from one family to another. 

After each Sunday Mass, pews will be sanitized. At St. John’s, KC Members have agreed to sanitize the pews through the month of June. Other parish group leaders are asked to call me by June 1 to volunteer your group for a future month. At St. Anthony’s, the Parish Council and PCCW will work together to sanitize the pews. For weekday Masses, no groups will be assigned. I simply ask that one or two individuals stay after Mass to accomplish this task. 

Because every other pew will be unoccupied for Mass, it is possible that we could reach seating capacity with still more people wanting to come into the church. To accommodate an overflow crowd at St. John's, Danny Seiler is working to try and get the church sound system hooked into our electric bell system so that the audio can be heard outside of church. Therefore, in case St. John Church gets full before you arrive, you may want to bring a folding chair so you can sit out in front of church in order to hear the Mass being celebrated. Then, if you wish to receive Holy Communion, you could come in at the end of Mass as people start to leave. 

A SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL USHERS IN BOTH PARISHES As our churches begin to fill with people, please assist with helping individuals and families find pews where they can sit and maintain the six foot distance as described above. Direct people outside when our seating capacities have been reached. 

Also, please open the church door to welcome each individual and family. This keeps multiple people from touching the door handles and possibly spreading the virus to others. 

Danny will continue live streaming our 8:00 Mass. But with the inside speakers now having to be turned up for those in the church, live streaming may not work because of poor audio quality like we had the first week. If good audio can not be maintained, live streaming will be discontinued. 

The obligation to attend Sunday Mass is still dispensed (lifted) by our Bishop. The elderly and those with underlying health conditions who would normally celebrate weekend Mass may want to consider celebrating one or more Masses during the week when fewer people are present in church. 

No dates for final preparations, or for the celebration of first Holy Communion, are being considered at this time. 

No date has been set for the resumption of weekly Eucharistic Adoration at St. John's. 

While this is an unprecedented situation for us all, please know that everything that is being asked is done so in an effort to do what we can to slow the spread of the virus while at the same time making the celebrations of Mass and Confession safely available to us. 

If you have any questions or need clarification on any of the above points, please do not hesitate to call me at 238-3300 ext. 2. This is an awkward time for all of us, but we will do our best for Jesus. Stay close to your loved ones. With those you live with pray together, enjoy suppers together with good listening and conversation, and have fun together. 

Please watch the flock note and web site for further updates and announcements. 

Thanks to Cindy Jansen and Aimee Hampton who make these social media opportunities readily available to us. Thanks also to Danny Seiler for all he is doing for us with live streaming Masses and now roping off pews in both churches and working for outside audio at St. John’s. 

As He has been, Jesus is with us every step of the way. 

Gratefully Yours in our Risen Lord, 

Fr. Coon