Flocknote

The Weekly Rundown: May 18-24

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If you don't receive our Morning Memo or missed one of our parish updates, here is a quick snapshot of our most recent resources and links shared in the last week.

Preparing to Return to Mass

Dear People of St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s –
Archbishop Hebda and Governor Walz have reached an agreement allowing us to begin public Masses at a capacity of 25%. This means a maximum of 135 persons at St. Michael’s and 85 people at St. Mary’s. We will begin our public Masses at St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s on Thursday, May 28.

As we rejoice at the possibility of returning to public Mass, we need to take great steps to reduce risks. This means we need eight volunteers for every Mass. Please consider signing up below to volunteer. If you sign up to attend as a volunteer, you will be given a place to sit at Mass with your family for whichever Mass you volunteer to work. Please email any questions to Flo Harris at fharris@costm.org.

With the assistance of a few of our lay leaders, we have created a video presenting some of the finer points of our return to Mass. Please take a few minutes to watch this presentation below before making your return to St. Mary's and St. Michael's.

The Archbishop provided a seven-page protocol that must be followed to minimize risk as we reopen our churches. I encourage you to read the Archdiocesan Protocols as well as our Parish Plans for Implementation.

Some of the key takeaways include requirements of limiting attendees, spacing congregants, and sanitizing after each Mass. You are also strongly encouraged to wear face masks while entering, exiting, and at our churches.

If you are ill, you are asked to remain at home. If you are 65 and over, the Archbishop strongly encourages you to continue participating in liturgies from home at this time. Another unusual change is that Holy Communion will be distributed after Mass, encouraging communicants to leave the church space immediately after receiving. I realize this may be a difficulty for many of you, but during these unprecedented times, he strongly encourages us to receive Holy Communion on the hand.

Please stay connected to Flocknote and our website for more information about returning to public Mass. Many of these changes will be challenging, but please join me in prayer and gratitude as we embrace this return to Holy Mass.

In Christ,
Father Izen

St. Mary's: Sign-Up to Volunteer at Mass

St. Michael's: Sign-Up to Volunteer at Mass

Scripture to Ponder from Last Week's Liturgies

Mass Recordings from May 18-24

Ascension Sunday, May 24: Mass
Ascension Sunday (Vigil), May 23: Mass
Sixth Saturday of Easter, May 23: Mass
Sixth Friday of Easter, May 22: Mass
Sixth Thursday of Easter, May 21: Mass
Sixth Wednesday of Easter, May 20: Mass
Sixth Tuesday of Easter, May 19: Mass
Sixth Monday of Easter, May 18: Mass

Our Favorites this Week

READ: Benedict XVI's Letter Marking St. John Paul II's Birth Centenary (From Catholic News Agency): It is true that God’s power and goodness have become visible to all of us in John Paul II. In a time when the Church is again suffering from the oppression of evil, he is for us a sign of hope and confidence. Dear Saint John Paul II, Pray for us! Read more.

CONSIDER: How Will We Look at Each Other When We Meet Again? (By: Fr. Federico Lombardi): After several weeks indoors, I feel a great desire to meet different faces on the street again. I hope that sooner or later, in due course, this can happen without masks or plexiglass dividers, and I hope I can exchange a friendly word, or even just a sincere smile, with other people. Many of us in recent months have been pleasantly surprised with the possibilities offered by digital communication, and we hope to continue to make use of them in the future. But with the extension of the lockdown, we have realized that is not enough. . . Read more.

LEARN: Pope's Mini-Lesson: How to Discern if God or Satan Is Speaking (By: Kathleen N. Hattrup): How can we recognize the voice of the good Shepherd rather than that of the thief, how can we distinguish the inspiration of God from the suggestion of the evil one? One can learn to discern these two voices: they speak two different languages, that is, they have opposite ways of knocking on the door of our hearts. They speak different languages. Just as we know how to distinguish one language from another, we can also distinguish the voice of God from the voice of the evil one. . . Read more.

Daily Mass & Confessions

Join us in prayer for Daily Mass every morning at 7:30 a.m. (Monday-Saturday) at St. Mary's and on Facebook Live or 5:30 p.m. (Monday-Friday) at St. Michael's.

Our Weekend Mass schedule returns to normal:

4:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Michael's

8:00 a.m; 10:30 a.m; and 6:00 p.m. Sunday at St. Mary's

7:30 a.m; 9:15 a.m; and 11:00 a.m. Sunday at St. Michael's

An additional 7:00 p.m. Mass will be celebrated at St. Michael's on Saturday evening in anticipation of Pentecost.

Drive-Thru Confessions are also available every week day 5:00-5:25 p.m. (Monday-Friday) and 3:00-4:15 p.m. (Saturday) at St. Michael's in addition to 8:00-8:30 a.m (Saturday) at St. Mary's.

Read Our Bulletin from Sunday, May 24

Thank you for helping us be the Church when we cannot gather together at church during this time. We are sincerely grateful for your support as we find creative ways to tend our Flock at St. Mary's and St. Michael's. May the Lord bless your generosity!

Make a Gift to St. Mary's

Make a Gift to St. Michael's