Parish Bulletin – 14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 05 July 2020

STREAMED MASSES: (from St. Joseph’s Church)

TUESDAY:*                  10 AM             Patricia Smith – Elizabeth Kelly

WEDNESDAY:*            10 AM             Matthew Mercier – Sam & Elaine McGuire

THURSDAY:*                  7 PM             Marie McCrea – Maureen & Helen Morris

FRIDAY:*                         7 PM             Melvin Gagnon – Donat & Doris Ranger

SUNDAY:                        9 AM             Missa Pro Populo

*These Masses are followed by Exposition and Benediction

Immediate family members and/or the person requesting the Mass can attend these   

Masses in St. Joseph’s Church. You can enter by the sacristy door closest to the rectory.   

  Masks and social distancing are requirements to attend any Mass.

LIVE MASSES: (All in St. Alphonsus Church in Chapeau)

SATURDAY:                    7 PM             Merrill Allard – Bob & Evelyn Lacroix

SUNDAY:                 10:15 AM             Marielle Demers – The Family

                                11:15 AM             Michael Dunn – Colleen & family

Please remember to call the Parish Offices to reserve a space at the live Masses as attendance is capped at 50 people. If you are sick or have a cough, please do not attend. Remember, the Bishop has suspended our obligation to attend a Sunday Mass until further notice so please stay home so as to not make others sick.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1) Well, it’s now official. Pembroke Diocese now has a new Bishop in office. Bishop Guy Desrochers was installed in a private ceremony on Friday at the Cathedral as the new Ordinary of Pembroke. Please keep him in your prayers as he familiarizes himself with his new diocese. Hopefully we’ll all have a chance to soon invite him here to our churches so that he can meet us.

2) We have a number of very ill parishioners these days in all three of our parishes. Please remember to pray for the sick in your daily prayers.

3) There will be a Zoom Meeting of the Sheenboro Pastoral Council on Monday evening at 7 pm. If you are a member of that council and have not yet received an email with a link to the meeting, please contact Joann McCann and she’ll make certain to send one to you. We will be discussing the progress on our repair program as well as how we will be reopening the church in August.

4) Our crowds were very sparse last weekend as we resumed celebrating Mass in the Chapeau church. I want everyone to understand a few things about how we’re proceeding in the hopes that any fears you might have can be assuaged. First, due to the restrictions on the size of the crowd that the province permits to attend, it is necessary to call and reserve a space at all of the weekend Masses. Your name will be put on a list for the Mass of your choice so that if the worst happens and someone infected with the COVID-19 virus were to attend, we will be able to contact you to alert you of a possible exposure. To ensure that this doesn’t happen though, we also take the following steps: a) Your temperature will be taken using a touchless thermometer to ensure that you are not running a fever. If you are, you will not be allowed to enter the building. b) You will be required to use Purell to wash your hands at the entrance. c) You will be obliged to wear a mask throughout the Mass. If you arrive without one, we do have some disposable masks for you to use. d) Every pew/bench is marked with coloured tags, one colour for each of the Masses. You must sit in the proper pew for that Mass. At the end of the Mass you will be asked to remove the tag. All pews without tags at the end of the weekend are washed down with a bleach solution to ensure that they are free from the virus. e) At communion time, Eucharistic Ministers will bring the host to you in your pews. ONCE THE MINISTER PASSES YOU and you have received a host, you can remove your mask to consume it. You are then required to replace your mask until you leave the building. f) There will be no collection taken up. You are asked to please drop your envelope or cash donation into the baskets placed at the door of the church. g) The bathrooms are closed to public use.

5) All of these steps are been taken to ensure the safety of those who attend Mass and your cooperation and compliance with their implementation are both expected and required.  These steps are being taken for your protection as well for the safety of everyone who chooses to come to church.

6) I am now working on putting in place similar protocols for the Sheenboro and St. Joseph’s churches. It is hoped that both of those communities will see the resumption of regular weekend Masses, beginning on the first weekend in August at 5 pm on Saturdays in Sheenboro and 9 am in St. Joseph’s. At that same time, we will resume the practice of only celebrating one Mass in Chapeau at 10:30 am, just as we did before the pandemic struck and we were forced to close the churches doors and stay at home. Remember, everyone will still need to call to ensure a place is available for them at Mass, irrespective of which church you plan to attend. This is a require that the province insists we respect in case it becomes necessary for contact tracing.

7) Even with all the steps mentioned above, I know that there are still a number of people who will decide not to attend Mass in person out of an abundance of caution and concern not to contract the COVID-19 virus. I will therefore continue to live-stream the 9 am Sunday Mass from St. Joseph’s church even after regular services begin there again. The Bishop continues to release us from our Sunday obligation to attend in person, but he encourages us to watch a Mass either online via Facebook Live or some other Mass on TV if we don’t plan on participating personally in one of our local Eucharistic celebrations.