“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me…” – Mt 10.40
We live in uncertain times. It seems every week, what we can and can’t do changes. These ‘shifting sands’ make it challenging to plan too far ahead. But plan we must; ready to adapt as the needs arise.
In the last few months, we have tried to keep our community together through different channels of communication and connection. As we move to offering more opportunities to gather, the importance of staying together and staying connected remains one of our key priorities. As we look to restarting our celebration of the Eucharist, we are aware of just how different all of our situations are. As much as we may desire to be together to celebrate Mass, for some it is simply not possible at this time. So what do we do?
Learning from the two initial gatherings that we will have had, we are planning to gather to celebrate Mass on two consecutive Sundays of 5th and 12th July. The State Government has indicated that restrictions will ease for church gatherings. It is our hope that by offering Mass over two weekends, it will give our community enough opportunity to attend. We are also planning weekday Mass on Wednesday (8th and 15th July) subject to available volunteers for monitoring and cleaning. Interested people will need to register as usual for these gatherings.
For those who cannot attend, we invite you to register for communion at home. For those who genuinely cannot be part of our gatherings at this time, we want to keep you connected to our celebration of the Eucharist through this ministry. While we may not be able to bring communion on both Sundays, we hope to get to everyone over the two weekends.
What our weekend gatherings will be after 15th July will depend a lot on what happens in our country in the weeks to come. We remain vigilant against a second wave and will communicate changes as quickly as we can. We hope to return to a somewhat regular pattern of Masses and Sunday Celebrations of the Word with Communion. However, this is dependent on the availability of volunteers for various ministries. We ask that everyone who is on a rostered ministry (or would like to be) to communicate their decision to recommit to their ministries and their availabilities for the months of August-October by no later than Monday, 13th July.
Some ministries (ministers of communion during Mass) will not continue for the foreseeable future. Others (such as cleaning, sacristans, altar serves, music, welcoming) may require adaptation and extra training. We will definitely need more volunteers to take communion to homes. Any feedback about your willingness and availability will help us plan for the months ahead. New volunteers will be required to complete the necessary forms and receive appropriate training.
We thank you for your patience at this time. If anyone has any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email or call the parish office.