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Pastor's Pen - August 6, 2020
From the Pastor's Pen -
Congratulations to Deacon Steve Eckert who will become Father Steve Eckert August 15 as he is ordained a priest together with Deacon Phil Guimaraes and Deacon Robert Renaud. Unfortunately the ordination ceremony is very restricted in seating due to Covid19 so it is by invitation only. I am trying to find out if they will be livestreaming the ordination or not, so it may be available on the diocesan website www.dol.ca Aug 15 at 11am but I haven't heard yet. We are happy to welcome Father Steve the following weekend as he visits here and celebrates the 5pm mass Aug 22 and the 8:30 and 10:30 masses Aug 23. We still hope to be able to celebrate First Holy Communions and Confirmations in the fall - please stand by for further announcements with dates. God bless! Enjoy the beautiful summer weather! -
Pastor's Pen - June 27, 2020From the Pastor's Pen - Our first week back to having open churches has been a success and gone smoothly thanks to our parish staff and many volunteers! We are all still adjusting to our new requirements for coming to church now such as reduced seating capacity, physical distancing, and signing in for contact tracing purposes. We will be continuing with a "first come - first served" model for church admittance until the church has reached capacity. As Our Lady Help of Christians and St. Michael reached their capacity last weekend, we will be directing overflow to the parish halls of these two churches this weekend. We hope to be able to offer the same for Holy Family and Sacred Heart parishes if needed sometime later. The halls will be hooked up at least for sound (and possibly video as well) and Holy Communion will be brought to the hall during the mass for those seated there.General Absolution - Bishop Fabbro is permitting general absolution during this time of pandemic until at least September 30. We had about 40 people come out for our first general absolution June 19 at Our Lady Help of Christians. The service lasts approximately 20 minutes involving instruction, scripture reading, an examination of conscience, an act of contrition, then the simultaneous absolving of sins for all present who desire it. If one is conscious of grave matter (mortal sin) then one must resolve to go to individual confession when possible. We will be offering this roughly biweekly from now until the end of September at rotating locations as follows:Tues July 7 - 6:10pm Sacred HeartThurs July 23 - 7pm St. Michael'sThurs Aug 6 - 7pm Holy FamilyWed Aug 19 - 6:10pm Our Lady Help of ChristiansTues Sept 1 - 6:10pm Sacred HeartThurs Sept 17 - 7pm St. Michael'sFri Sept 25 - 8:30am Holy FamilyWe have just received great news. Deacon Steve Eckert, who did his internship with us here, will be ordained a priest this August 15 (together with Deacon Rob Renaud and Deacon Phil Guimares). Unfortunately due to physical distancing requirements and limited seating, attendance at the ordination ceremony in London is by invitation only. We hope to have "soon-to-be Father" Steve come to our family of parishes shortly after to celebrate a mass of thanksgiving. Please keep Steve and our other "priests-elect" in your prayers!God bless!
Fr. Chris -
Our Churches will OPEN! June 19, 2020Reopening of Churches - It is with great joy that we can announce today the reopening of the churches in our family of parishes (to a maximum of 30% seating capacity) this Friday, June 19, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with mass at 10:30am at Our Lady Help of Christians. The bishop has given permission for General Absolution, so we will have a special celebration of that (with scripture reading, an examination of conscience, the confiteor and then the priest gives the general absolution) at 9:30am right before our first mass on the 19th, and periodically after that until the end of September. To receive general absolution one must be resolved to go to individual confession when able afterword if they are aware of mortal sin, for counsel and guidance. Individual confessions will be resuming as of this Saturday as well.Weekend mass schedule - Holy Family Sat 5pmHoly Family Sunday 8:30amSacred Heart Sunday 8:45amOur Lady Help of Christians Sunday 10:30amSt. Michael Sunday 11:15am(note: the 12:30pm OLHC Lifeteen mass will resume after Labour Day)Our normal weekday mass schedule will resume Tuesday June 23, with the exception of the nursing and retirement homes.Sacred Heart Tues 7pmOur Lady Help of Christians Wed 7pmSt. Michael Thurs 8:30amHoly Family Fri 9:15amBishop Fabbro has extended the dispensation from the Sunday mass obligation until the beginning of Advent, so if anyone due to compromised health, age, or concern over the spread of the virus, is not ready yet to return to church they are free to stay at home and "Remember to keep holy the Lord's day" as the commandment states by another means at this time such as watching mass from our website or facebook page, watching another mass on TV or reading the scriptures.Measures to be followed if attending mass:One's temperature should be checked at home, and if running a fever or not feeling well, please don't come to church.Face masks are highly recommended.Please arrive early. Admittance for now will be on a first-come, first-serve basis until we reach our 30% seating capacity maximum. We may have to consider another means such as signing up ahead of time if we are having to turn people away regularly, but for now we will try to keep it simple with the first-come first serve method. You will be asked for your name and phone number for contract tracing should someone at mass be shown to have the virus. Ushers will direct you to a seat. Pews have been marked off to ensure physical distancing of 2m or 6 feet for all except those of the same household.Please try and use the washroom at home before coming to church as washrooms in the church should be for emergencies only and will need cleaning after every use. We will have a volunteer ready to do that during mass but please help by not using them unless it is really necessary.Hand sanitizer is available at the doors of the church for use.Offertory collection baskets will be at the doors of the church and not passed around during mass. Thank you for your ongoing support of our parishes!We will not be shaking hands for the sign of peace - a nod or smile or 2 finger peace sign will suffice!Please follow directions for the reception of Holy Communion, and maintain physical distancing while in line. The dialogue between the minister and communicant should take place 6 feet apart, then the communicant advances to receive Holy Communion on the hand. (Please note: communion on the tongue and communion from the cup are not permitted in the diocese during this time of pandemic).Studies show singing projects 6 times the number of droplets into the air as simply talking, so congregational singing is not encouraged at this time. Books and pamphlets have been removed from the pews. We may have a music minister or choir (who must be physical distancing as well) providing music for us.Please follow instructions for leaving the church, while maintaining physical distancing.The church pews and doors will be sanitized between masses.Funerals in church are now permitted to 30% capacity, as are weddings.We will be providing more information on the delayed 1st Communions and Confirmations shortly, but they will not be taking place before September.The parish office will remain closed at this time, as per the directives of the diocese.We thank you for your patience and cooperation in following these directives as we enter phase 1 of the reopening of our parishes. These directives are for the health and safety of our community, and they are but a small sacrifice to be able to receive the Lord in the Eucharist once again!God bless! I'm looking forward to seeing soon all those who are able to join us at this time.Fr. Chris
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June 12, 2020 Pastor's Pen
You may have heard the exciting news that we will soon be reopening our churches and able to receive the sacraments once again. Hooray! Thanks be to God!
This has been a long time coming. We are awaiting directives from the bishop and our pastoral team has an online meeting with the bishop on Tuesday. We hope to let everyone know a specific date for reopening shortly after. We will be reopening to 30% capacity, allowing for the physical distancing requirements of the province. We will be taking additional measures such as sanitizing pews, door handles, etc. before every mass, as well as many other measures to be laid out in the document that we are expecting.
For those who are sick, or elderly or have health issues and are not comfortable returning to mass yet, you are encouraged to stay home - the bishop is extending the dispensation from the obligation to Sunday mass until further notice. We will continue to make Sunday mass available for viewing online on our website and Facebook page 'For Heaven's Sake'.
We are looking forward to seeing again soon those who are able to start coming to mass again in the coming weeks. To those who are not able to join us in person then, let us remain united in prayer. Take care and God bless!
Fr. Chris -
June 8, 2020 UPDATE from Bishop Fabbro about Returning to Church
For the latest update from Bishop Fabbro click here
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Message from Fr. Chris Gillespie March 22, 2020
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Chaplet of Divine Mercy Sung