Dear Sisters and Brothers
Blanket Letter - June 4, 2020

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s our new front lawn sign!!!

After all these weeks of “virtual worship”. it may be reassuring to see evidence that there's a physical there, there!!  The sign was completed this week.  I wanted to save expense by waiting on the pastor’s name, but the designer/contractor insisted on placing my name on the sign, even if only for the month of June.  She’ll return to place Father Hilary Ike’s name at no charge.

But enough about me … this is about Saint Mary and the sense of unity and place you have.  Some experienced our return to public Mass on Memorial Day and Pentecost.  Others of you did not … yet.  But, there aren’t two classes of Catholic at St. Mary and I address this subject in my lead article in the Bulletin for this coming Sunday.  I put that article in this Blanket Letter also in order to have as broad an “audience” as possible to read and share these thoughts on our unity.

Come to Church? ... OR ... Stay at Home?

Last Sunday ... the Solemnity of Pentecost ... was for some of us a return to public worship in our Saint Mary Church!  There we were with our masks with seating separation in the pews.  There were only a few liturgical ministers ... one lector and one Eucharistic minister and the Priest at the Altar.  Our organist and cantor provided beautiful music.  While there were limitations, there nevertheless was joy to be home again for the Lord’s Day Mass.  Many have been eager to return.

And many others also are eager to be back in church for Mass but are being cautious about leaving the security of home to enter a public space while the Coronavirus pandemic remains a threat ... even with many health protections.  There may be questions about one’s own health or vulnerability ... or questions about potential virus transmission to a weaker person at home ... or just uneasiness and a desire for more time.  For these sisters and brothers the Church’s guidance and my strong advice is to Stay at Home!  You are not “lesser Catholics”.  This is the reason Bishop Brennan extended the dispensation from the Mass Obligation through September 13.

Of course, as Catholics we yearn for the company of the faithful, the public celebration of the Liturgy and receiving Holy Communion.  Of course, we wouldn’t use the Bishop’s dispensation as a “pass” from practicing our faith.  But God calls us by Grace to the virtue of Prudence ... and by our honest assessment and informed conscience He tells us, “Peace be with you.”  So, let’s hold each other in prayer, whether we Come to Church or Stay at Home.

*****
May God Bless you and bless our efforts to increase actions for Justice and Charity.  Pray for our Country.  Pray for those who are offended.  Pray for those who raise their voices in right protest.  Pray for those charged to protect our safety and freedoms.

In Christ with Mary, your loving pastor Father John