From Father Steven - December 20th

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we approach our Christmas celebration, I would like to say a word about how our Christmas celebration will be done this year. After a long period of reflection and talking to other priests from different parts of the state and the country to see how they are planning to do their masses, we have seen the need to open our doors to whoever wants to come. There are many people struggling in many different ways. Maybe one of them wants to come (back) to church to receive a word of consolation, encouragement, in sum, a word of salvation. Many saints converted from their old lives by listening to 1 word...and some of them were not even inside the church! At every Mass, we always say, “Lord, I’m not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but ONLY SAY THE WORD and my soul shall be healed.” So we see the need to try to bring as many people as we can to mass. We also want to provide a safe environment, so that everyone who comes may feel comfortable. With that said, I would like to point out what we will do for the masses.

3:00pm Mass Upper Church and in the Chapel (Lower Church).
There will be ushers who will be seating people in a way to maximize the space allowing more people to sit socially distant. Once we reach full capacity both up and downstairs, whoever comes later will be invited to the parking lot mass starting at 3:30pm. The parking lot mass will serve as the overflow from both masses. THESE MASSES WILL BE BROADCASTED ONLY AS WELL.

6:00pm Mass Upper Church and in the Chapel (Lower Church).
There will be ushers at both masses seating people in the pews as well.

12:00am Midnight mass
Traditionally, there are not many people that attend this mass. There should not be a problem of accommo- dating everyone.

For both the 6:00pm and the 12:00am, If there is a need, we will direct the overflow of people to an assigned place, such as Meehan Hall or the lower church, and there people can watch the mass online and receive communion at the end. The same applies for the 7:30am and the 10:00am masses on the 25
.
For this to work, we will need volunteers at all masses to help us seat everyone as they come to mass. If anyone would like to help, please call the office. The ushers will have a reserved seat for themselves during mass.
Lastly, we ask everyone to please ARRIVE EARLY so that we can arrange seating the best possible way.
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God bless and I will forward celebrating Christmas with you and your loved ones! Fr. Steven