Do We Still Have to Sign Up for Mass?

Many of us (myself included) are growing weary of all the extra things we need to do during a pandemic to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe. Thankfully, many of these are becoming second nature and less burdensome. We are reevaluating how we implement the required safety precautions while maintaining our vigilance. Keep in mind our theme of “Be not afraid...but be not foolish!”

You are always welcome to come to church in our parishes for public Masses! Yes, we continue to encourage people to sign up before hand, but that is mainly to benefit you: your online sign-up
 
Right now, only the Saint Martha 10 AM Mass is at or near capacity, but we anticipate the numbers at all Masses will go up as we get into September. We hope to add Masses as each parish nears capacity at the Masses it presently has. We hope to add the 8am Mass at St. Martha sometime soon, since the 10 AM has been full. Fr. Lambert and I are ready, and Fr. Bernie is eager to help us out more often, but adding Masses requires more than priests. We can only add Masses if there are enough Hospitality volunteers, Lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Communion who are comfortable doing these ministries at this time. Especially if we are going to have two Sunday Masses in the same church, we need enough parishioners to sanitize the church quickly before letting people in for the next Mass.

Without judging one another and with respect for each person’s sensitivities, our faith helps us encourage one another to not let fear prevent us from participating in things that are reasonably safe to do. Maintaining our good practices of loving one another by arriving no more than 15 minutes before Mass, wearing face coverings, and keeping safe distances helps to assure our sisters and brothers that they will be safe in our churches.

Thank you for praying that our Masses, outreach efforts, and other ministries may continue to grow under the Lord’s protection.