Hey Folks:
You’ve heard that yesterday Archbishop Pérez suspended all public celebration of Mass until further notice. What that means for us at CC is the following:
While public celebration is suspended, the priests of CC WILL be celebrating Mass privately on a regular basis to both pray for you our people and to remember the intentions that many of you have requested.
The Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul will be livestreaming their 11 AM Sunday Mass for the duration. You can go to http://archphila.org to watch.
We’ll continue to publish a bulletin but beginning Mar. 29th, it will be an abridged version and available online. For now, pretty much EVERYTHING of the events in the Bulletin are cancelled or postponed. But we’ll keep you up to date as best we can.
As previously announced, the Church will be open during regular business hours (9 AM to 5 PM) every day and until 6:30 PM on Wednesdays, our traditional Exposition day. (Although there will be no Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Wednesday’s until further notice.) If you wish to visit and pray, you are welcome but please maintain social distance.
And much as I hate to have to bring it up, this might be a good time to think about Electronic Giving. We still need your financial support even as we all reach out in spiritual support to each other. But if this crisis starts to hit your wallet as well, do what you CAN. We’ll do our best too.
http://corpuschristilansdale.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Electronic-Debit-1.pdf
We’ll be open for the Sacrament of Penance on Saturday’s from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM in the CHURCH. The confessional chapels in the Chapel are a bit close. So we’ll move the screens to opposite ends in the front of the Church. There will be music playing during that hour to help protect the Seal.
Also, to increase social distancing, the Face-to-Face option for celebrating the Sacrament will be suspended for the duration. We’ll put a chair behind the screen for those unable to kneel. And we’ll wipe the screen down at the beginning and end of each session and provide wipes for the chair itself.
All regular visits for Holy Communion to the Nursing Homes in our Parish, the homebound in our Parish and to local hospitals are suspended for the duration. HOWEVER, we will be available for emergencies and those close to death. Call the Parish Office and we will make arrangements.
Should COVID-19 (coronavirus) be involved, we’ll have to make special arrangements but we will work with healthcare providers to do our best to see to your spiritual needs.
CC will celebrate a Funeral Mass during this time. However, we ask that participants be limited and that all exercise respectful social distancing. We ask that the family bring some sanitizer and wipes to augment our own limited supply.
While we can provide a priest for the services certainly, we cannot guarantee the services of our Funeral Coordination Team (in that case the priest will help plan the liturgy, possibly over the phone), Servers or Musicians.
And while the Church has no provision for livestreaming the event, if the family wishes to do so, that is allowed. We ask that you be respectful of the liturgy while doing so. Thank you.
We will also make ourselves available for a Funeral Service in a funeral home or a graveside service if requested.
At this writing, there are no Baptisms or Weddings scheduled at CC for the next month or so. We will follow the same policy for these Sacraments as we will for Funeral Masses. If there is a need for a baptism in the case of an emergency, we will follow the same policy as for Anointing of the Sick.
At this writing, the archdiocese has not cancelled or confirmed Holy Week services and liturgies. We’ll keep you posted and let you know as soon as we can. All extra services surrounding Holy Week—Tenebrae, the Passion Play, Morning Prayer and the Blessing of Food—are cancelled this year unless otherwise announced. Please keep our two Catechumens and our Candidate in your prayers during this time.
You can click this link to see any other updates on the diocesan level. http://archphila.org/covid19/
(And there’s a really great statement by our Archbishop there too!) We’ll do our best to use Flocknote (GET US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF WE DON’T HAVE IT ) and the website to keep you updated locally.
And the Parish Office will be open for the duration unless we get orders to shelter in place or something similar. As time goes on, it might be more limited but we’ll be taking calls and emails and responding in a timely manner. And if you need to stop in, we’re wiping down the doors on a regular basis and BRING THAT HAND SANITIZER!
OK, that’s a lot of what we can’t do. Here’s some things we CAN do.
Danielle Gallo, our Youth Minister, has been doing some streaming stuff for our high school youth and has been there to support them. Click here to connect. If you haven’t taken advantage of what our Youth Group has to offer, this is a GREAT time to think about it.
https://corpuschristiyouthgroup.weebly.com/
Trish Keen, our Adult Faith Formation Coordinator, has hooked up with Zoom to hold real-time meetings of the Lenten Book Club and Bible Study programs so they’re still ongoing despite COVID-19. Email Trish at CorpusAFF@gmail.com and check it out. Don’t worry about being late; you’re always welcome.
And don’t forget that Disciple Maker Index. It’s still going on and what a better way to still engage in Lent and in your faith by taking the 20 minutes to fill it out. Yes, I’m going to remind you about this in EVERY bulletin and email that I can until it closes at the end of March. You can still make it a good Lent by participating in the Disciple Maker Index.
https://www.catholicleaders.org/disciple-maker-index
Everyone and everything it seems, is going virtual. The Vocation Office of the archdiocese is offering a virtual rosary led by our archbishop on Mar. 25th, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Check it out here. Heedthecall.org/RosaryRally.
And I’m sure that’s not the only thing going virtual. From a prayer standpoint, the only limits are our imaginations.
And for those of you missing the experience of Mass and the reception of Holy Communion, read this short reflection on Spiritual Communion.
http://www.usccb.org/about/communications/resources-for-catholics-at-home-during-covid-19.cfm (and there’s some other good spiritual stuff there too)
Yes, it’s the best when we come together as a community, break open the Word and Break the Bread; but when we can’t, we do our best and God not only understands but also more than supplies the graces and love and strength we need during this challenging time. Don’t be afraid to be there for each other as best you can and know that we here in the Parish are doing the same. God bless you all.
Praying for you always,
Fr. Schiele, Fr. Fedak, Fr. Silva,
Deacon Langsdorf, Deacon Evans and Deacon Currie
