Updated Policies and Q&A on How We Respect the Health and Life of All
As we ring in this new year, the Parish Family, Clergy, and Staff of Saint John the Evangelist has committed to continuing to provide the safest, healthiest environment for our allowed events, activities, and Masses here on campus. In order to accomplish this feat, here are a few updates and reminders on our Schedules, Policies, and Procedures:
Increased Opportunities for Mass Attendance
We will continue to appropriate social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for Religious Organizations, especially in the Church. As that does limit the total amount of people that can attend in the pews, we have increased our total Masses available each week to compensate. Our new Mass Schedule includes:
Weekday Masses
- 8:00 AM – Church
- 9:00 AM – Church
- Saturday only 8:00 AM – Church
Weekend Masses
Saturday
- 3:00 PM – Church
- 3:15 PM – Ballroom
- 5:00 PM – Church
Sunday
- 7:00 AM – Church
- 9:00 AM – Church
- 9:15 AM – Ballroom
- 11:00 AM – Church
- 11:15 AM – Ballroom
- 1:00 PM – Church
- 5:00 PM – Church
Confessions
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will continue to be provided on three days a week, socially distanced now in the Adoration Chapel. Please line up outside the main entrance of the church after the following Daily Masses:
- Monday after the 8:00 AM Mass
- Wednesday after the 8:00 AM Mass
- Saturday after the 8:00 AM Mass
Updated Policies for Attending Mass
While vaccines and other therapeutics are now available to assist our human family with combating the COVID-19 Pandemic, the essential steps of the below policies have been scientifically proven to slow the spread of this virus and protect the lives of others around us. It is an essential doctrinal component of the Catholic Faith that we are called to protect, cherish, and respect life in all forms and in all ways. Following the below policies ensures we respect life while here at Saint John:
- Wear your masks properly, over your mouth and nose, at all times while you are within our Church Facilities, including during Mass. Shields are not considered replacements for masks, so a mask must also be worn.
- Stay a respectful social distance from other individuals and families.
- Receiving Communion should be in the Hand with your mask on. Once you have received the Host, please move to the side to remove your mask, and consume it, placing your mask back on. If you desire to receive Communion on the Tongue, we ask that you please wait at the end of the Priest’s Communion Line. Our Eucharistic Ministers will only provide Communion in the Hand, and out of respect for the life and health of all our Parish Family, we hope you would wait until all others have received before taking Communion from the Priest.
- Provide your generous offerings to our Ushers at the Exit Doors of the Church as you depart. You will see that the back-wing doors are now available for your exit only after Mass concludes. Ushers will be posted there as well.
Activities and Events
While we are still suspending any and all events and activities that include public gathering, including any activities with food and/or beverages, there are some Ministries that have come back to campus for their gatherings on a weekly basis. We continue to provide over 400 youth with a weekly Faith Formation Program, both in-person and virtually. The campus is slowly finding its “new normal”, with sanitizing between Adult Faith Formation sessions, and maximum participation of 25 for a Boy Scout Troop Meeting. We will be having our CYO Basketball League starting up and we have found a way to socially distance CAO Bootcamp Classes. If you have any questions about the use of the Facilities, please do not hesitate to contact our Business Manager, Jean-Paul Boucher, at [email protected].
We can only get through this Pandemic together as a Parish Family and as a human family. Love, fraternity, and joy can be our healing remedy, even while socially distanced.