St. Patrick’s Day 2020
My dear parishioners,
I am sorry to announce that there will be no more public Masses celebrated at Resurrection Catholic Parish until April 14. This decision is in accordance with Archbishop Sample’s directive on March 16 that there will be no public Masses offered in the Archdiocese of Portland until that same date. In the last couple of days, news regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, specifically in the United States, seemed to be changing daily and even sometimes hourly. Before this past weekend, we were directed by Governor Brown to limit group sizes to 250 people. On Sunday, the CDC directed all of us to limit groups to 50 people maximum. On Monday Governor Brown limited a group to 25 and then to 10.
Under the previous standards, we went ahead and celebrated the usual three Masses this past weekend. Following all of the recommendations regarding social distancing, not touching, and using hand sanitizers or soap and water, we had 115 people attending the 4:30 pm Mass on Saturday, 82 people at the 8:30 am Mass and 96 at the 11:00 am Mass. Although these numbers were within the previous guidelines of 250, the congregations exceeded the current 50/25/10 person rule. Daily Masses, on the other hand usually have 10-25 people attending on any given day. That, of course, would exceed the 10 person rule.
It is hard for me to imagine that we will not be gathering on Palm Sunday as God’s People to celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. We will not be celebrating the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday or the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday. The greatest loss for me will be not gathering at the Easter Vigil to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. I am especially sorry for our Elect and Candidates who will not be brought into the Church at that celebration.
In accordance with CDC guidelines, there will be no meetings on church property that would exceed the 10 person rule. Therefore, the Stations of the Cross and Soup Suppers on the Thursdays of Lent are cancelled, and the Women’s Bible Study will not be meeting until further notice. There will be no Junior/Senior Beach Retreat and the RCIA is cancelled. The Lenten Small Groups are cancelled if they exceed 10 people. LifeKids, Edge and LifeTeen are all cancelled until further notice. There will be no Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Wednesdays. The Preschool & Kindergarten is closed. Also, there will be no Masses and no Communion Services at the assisted living and nursing facilities that we usually visit. Most of them are shut to visitors anyway, as is the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.
In the meantime, please do your best to stay safe. Our staff will be sending out an email Blast (“Resurrection Connection”) each Thursday to all of you in order to keep you up to date on parish news and developments. Also, the weekend Mass readings will be included in the Blast. I encourage you to prayerfully reflect on these readings each week and then give yourself your own best homily. With the next Blast, we will send you links to various resources for Sunday Masses that are being streamed each week, religious devotions and other materials to support you in your continuing spiritual growth during this Lenten season. If you do not have access to electronic communications, please call the Parish Office and let us know. We will develop a mailing list so that you will receive the Blast information by regular mail.
During this period of the parish shut down, I ask that you continue your usual Offertory giving to the parish, to the Dream Big fund, and to St. Vincent de Paul. I suggest that you consider signing up for WeShare on the Parish Website in order to facilitate your giving to the Lord from your treasure. We will continue paying our staff during this shutdown and the parish will continue to have the usual operational expenses. Your financial support as good stewards is critical, then, to the parish working remotely during this challenging time and being here for you when we all return to normal.
I ask God’s blessings on all of you. I pray that St. Michael the Archangel will watch over you and keep you and your loved ones safe as we proceed through this global crisis.
May the Lord be with you,
Fr. Bill Moisant, Pastor
