Lifting of Dispensation
Dear St. Michael Parishioners,
At the request of Bishop DeGrood, the obligation to attend the weekend Masses will begin on the weekend of August 22-23. Bishop does leave room for those with increased risk of serious illness to prudently make their own decisions.
Bishop has also asked for the following changes:
- The physical barriers to promote distancing will be removed. We will do that, but will do the following to help with those concerned. We ask you to sit with social distancing. 1) We will keep the distancing in the Commons. 2) We will add the extra Mass back on Sundays at 4:00 pm. We have three priests on the weekend so this will not cause any hardships for your priests. This means that for those concerned, there will be two low attended Masses to choose from: Saturday at 6:00 pm and Sunday at 4:00 pm.
- Sanitizers will be provided at the entrances, but I still encourage you to bring your own so multiple people are not using the same containers.
- Masks will still be highly recommended.
- We will have a procession in at the beginning of the Mass and process out at the end. If you wish to visit with a priest after Mass, we will be standing outside as weather allows.
- There will be one server at each Mass. Their responsibilities will be to lead the processions in and out, plus ring the bell.
- We will be putting things up on the screens during Mass, such as the music and so on.
- Holy Water will still be available to take home in bottles.
- There will be an opportunity after Mass for those who wish to receive the host on the tongue. The celebrant will be the one who will distribute the host in this case.
- We will continue to give communion in sections.
- We will continue to clean after every Mass.
- We will continue to hear confessions behind the screen in the confessional. Monday & Tuesday at 5:00 pm; Thursday at 7:30 am; and Saturday at 3:00 pm
~~Fr. Terry