There is no getting around it.  The COVID-19 Threat and the impact on our church and our society has been an incredible challenge.  Unlike other crises we have faced together, the massive and lasting changes to our behavior and limits to our actions have no defined end date.  There is no timeframe to move from our response to the Corona Virus into a recovery phase, attempting to build our church into a gradual return to “normal”, whatever that may look like.  Reconstitution, the final step in emergency management where the full function of the organization is reestablished, may not occur for a significant period of time.  Our Parish Family has been patient, flexible, and understanding, and we truly appreciate it.

The timing of this challenge has posed its own issues.  Saint John normally swells with our seasonal Parish Family, along with the substantial visitor population that we welcome during Lent and Holy Week.  Our church is normally bolstered with the gifts that this large contingent of individuals and families who do not normally give to our Parish Family during the summer and other time periods.  With the loss of that income, Saint John has had to make some extremely serious decisions when it comes to our operations.  While we have had our Business Continuity Plan, which lists out our Mission Essential Functions, for many years, it has never had to come to this level of response in refining our Mission to the core and critical needs of our Parish and our Community.  We have determined that in the best interest of the Parish, the clergy, and the staff, the following changes to our operations will be put into place:

Reducing Campus Access and Office Hours

In order to protect our Parish Family members, our clergy, and our staff, all facilities on campus are now locked without any public access until further notice.  This will reduce the potential interactions that could cause the spread of the virus, as well as the cost to operate our facilities, including staffing.  The only location that will be open is our Parish Activity Center Front Office, located right behind the Church building.  We have reduced the in-person, walk-in office hours to that Front Office to Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  We will continue to answer the main line of the phone (and respond to email messages) until 4 PM each weekday, but the doors will lock at 12:30 PM.  It is essential that our offices remain open to assist our Parish Family with the critical pastoral needs they may have: funeral planning, a baptism, serious spiritual anguish, direct support for food or shelter, and other crucial functions of the Parish Mission.

Mass Times

Our priests are on constant call to various critical care locations (we are the only Parish in the area to serve 2 separate hospitals, as well as multiple adult living facilities), as well as for our Parish Family.  We have determined that it would be most effective to move our Daily Mass to 8:30 AM starting Monday, April 20, to allow for the early morning calls to be handled properly.  Additionally, we will continue to stream and then place the 3 PM Saturday Mass on demand on our website.  That Mass will be available at any time to view.  We will then still stream the 9 AM and 11 AM Masses on Sunday starting next weekend (Sunday, April 26).  If you would like to watch a Mass after the Sunday 11 AM time-frame, please view the on-demand Mass page, which will be available on the streaming web page.

We ask that you be patient with our staff and clergy during this extremely difficult time.  We have made some very difficult changes that could impact the normal time it could take to answer a question or retrieve needed documentation. Those of us who are here are completely dedicated to our Parish Family and Mission and will serve you as best we can.  Some functions may be suspended entirely for a time until we are able to plan our recovery from this crisis.  We hope the above changes will assist us in being agile and responsive to the critical needs of the Parish Family. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we keep you in ours.  God Bless You and Stay Safe!