Public Mass to Re-Open at Epiphany Parish

Public Mass to Re-open - Archbishop Jackels has announced that the public celebration of the Mass and sacraments in parishes of the Archdiocese of Dubuque can begin the weekend of May 30-31st.
He repeated again that Catholics of the archdiocese are not required to return to Sunday Mass and holy days since the obligation remains dispensed until further notice. That could be until a vaccine is available.

People in the following circumstances are in fact urged to stay home and away from Mass:

If you…

·       Are sick, or have recently been sick, or have an underlying medical condition

·       Are frail due to advanced age

·       Are nervous about contracting COVID-19

·       Live with and/or care for someone sick, elderly, at risk, or with COVID-19

·       Work at or regularly visit hospitals or care facilities where there are COVID-19 cases

Mass at Epiphany – We hope to offer two Masses the weekend of May 30-31st as public Masses re-open in the archdiocese and our parish. If we have adequate parishioners to help welcome and seat people, we will have our Saturday, May 30th Mass at 4 p.m. our regular time at Holy Family. We would also have one Sunday Mass on Sunday, May 31st at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Family. Please know and understand that the requirements for health and safety will introduce many changes. Social distancing requirements alone will only allow for less than forty households to attend each Mass at Holy Family.

What Do I Need to Bring to Mass? The Archdiocese of Dubuque and this includes our parish, as well as current health requirements give us direction:

Bring the following with you to Mass…

• Facemasks to be worn from your arrival outside church until you return to your car. Any one of 1st communion age or older must wear a facemask. Infants and children under the age of two should not wear masks since they are not capable of removing them. For children ages two until 1st communion age, masks are encouraged but not required. So for the rest of us (priest included) we must require wearing a facemask.

• Personal bottle of hand sanitizer for use before receiving communion. Note that sanitizer will be available at the door as you arrive, but you will need this before receiving communion during Mass.

Two things, that’s it. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. It is also charitable of you for others. We welcome you and others back to Mass! We all contribute towards the safety of others by following these policies. Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

Your Help Is Very Needed! – Re-opening Mass to our parish means lots of changes.

The most obvious and biggest challenge for us will be having an adequate number of parishioners to serve as hospitality ministers and ushers. We will need EIGHT people at each Sunday Mass for this role alone. Maybe in time we will not need as many, but for the foreseeable future, we will! Can you help us? Your role would be to help in greeting people as they arrive for Mass and guiding them through our new seating process as we maintain necessary distancing and helping with the necessary dismissing of people to maintain the necessary distancing. We need your help beginning 30 minutes before Mass (and likely a short time after). In addition, the general criteria for attending Mass apply for those in this helping role.

You should NOT help in this role:

If you…

·       Are sick, or have recently been sick, or have an underlying medical condition

·       Are frail due to advanced age

·       Are nervous about contracting COVID-19

·       Live with and/or care for someone sick, elderly, at risk, or with COVID-19

·       Work at or regularly visit hospitals or care facilities where there are COVID-19 cases

These are the basic guidelines we must work with to assure the health and safety of our parishioners at Mass. We will help prepare and train you.
Please contact Sr. Annette (641-423-5001 or [email protected]) or leave a message at our parish office if you can help.

We cannot offer more Mass times without this assistance. Please consider serving your parish in this role. We need you!

Will Space Be Limited at Sunday Mass? Unfortunately, it will be limited.
The health and safety of those coming to Mass is our biggest concern at this time. We are obligated to follow social distancing requirements. That means that at Holy Family, our larger church, we can only provide seating for less than 40 household units.
That means that people who live together can be seated together, but anyone from another household will be seated 6 feet away. Some households such as a single widowed person may be as small as one person. Families where everyone lives together may be 5 or 7 people in a household. 

Shortly before each Mass, hospitality ministers and ushers will seat households one by one until the available spaces are filled. Then unfortunately, we cannot seat any further households at that Mass. The hard part is that then, we would have to turn people away. 

There are a couple of fortunate things though. First, many parishes throughout the country have had low numbers of people returning initially. People need to feel that they are safe. Second, remember that Catholics remain exempted from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for the present so it is okay and no sin in staying away. Third, we hope to offer more opportunities for you to come to Mass if we have your help and support to help with hospitality and ushering. 

How Can We Keep from Turning People Away? I cannot imagine anything harder than having to turn people away who want to come to Mass. We do want to offer additional Mass times on Sunday. We can readily do that IF parish members are generous and willing to give of their time to help with hospitality and ushering. 

We likely would also try to offer weekday Mass a couple times a week at 6:30 p.m. so that if room does not exist on Sunday, they can celebrate Mass and receive communion during the week. Remember, for the present moment, you are not under obligation to attend Mass on Sunday.

We are also considering a method where people can make a reservation for a particular Mass. People could then be assured that seats are reserved for them at Mass. People could still come without a reservation, but they’d be seated after those who did reserve as long as open seats remained.

Will the Live-streaming of Mass Continue?
It must be continued. Many people will fall into categories where they cannot attend Mass, e.g., sick or recently been sick, have underlying medical conditions, living with someone who is sick, elderly or at risk to name a few examples. The Saturday evening Mass, in addition to being a public Mass will continue to be live-streamed for the benefit of those who cannot attend Mass.

Where Will Mass Be Held?
Presently, we plan to primarily have Masses at Holy Family Church. The most important reason for that is its size. The rows of side pews in particular offer greater seating potential. Holy Family Church can provide for around 40 households to attend Mass. St. Joseph Church can provide for about 25 households. Holy Family Church also has more hard surfaces which are easier to clean and sanitize than padded seats and carpeting. Our live-stream equipment which we must continue to use is located at Holy Family.

At the present time, we will work to hold smaller events such as weddings and funerals at St. Joseph when the smaller size fits the need. We will gladly return to a regular schedule of Masses at both St. Joseph and Holy Family as distancing and other requirements ease.

Final Thought from Fr. Neil …Is All of This Really Necessary? Yes, it is. Social distancing seating, the use of facemasks, sanitizing hands, keeping distance when talking with others or waiting in line, communion only in the hand and sanitizing, limiting seating and cleaning surfaces are civil and/or church requirements. If we cannot do this, we would not have Mass at all. It is a mistake to judge all this in terms of one’s freedoms or HAVING to do something. In fact, that approach is at best self-serving and at its worst, kind of childish. 

We have the opportunity to return to Mass. That is great news! If that means anything to us, we should be willing to do all these things and even more. Don’t forget this is also about charity. We take care of others when they realize we make every sacrifice of this for them and their health and well-being. I am so looking forward to celebrating Mass with you again!