Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Covid Safety Reminder At the time of this writing the governor has put into place some restrictions in order to curb the number of Covid cases in the state. This does not affect churches in any legal sense, and I have not heard of any change in diocesan policy or guidelines. So as of right now, our approach remains the same at St. Paul’s. But here are some reminders: if one is sick or particularly vulnerable or worried about being around others, then please remain at home. It is not possible for us to turn the church into a nursing home or hospital with their level of sanitization.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Sunday Mass Schedule Update As you know the current Sunday Mass schedule is finishing our ten week trial period. Having listened to people’s suggestions during this time, parish council met to discern our next steps. We are deciding to continue offering an Extraordinary Form Mass at 9:30am on Sundays and making it a part of our regular schedule into the future. This leads to the question of how our holy day schedule will be affected.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with the Lord, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am writing this on Election Day, so hopefully by the time you read this we will know who our next president will be. Regardless of what happens, many people will be disappointed. I pray that respect for the rule of law is maintained and peace reigns rather than discord and violence. As Catholics we are called to witness to the peace of Christ, which is quite different from the peace politicians try to promise and always fail to deliver. True peace is deeper and comes from an understanding of who we are as made in God’s image, but as fallen sinners we need God’s mercy.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with the Lord, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, All Saints’ Day This year All Saints’ Day falls on a Sunday. How blessed we are to have such a “cloud of witnesses” who constantly glorify God and intercede for us. Furthermore, we can look to their examples of heroic virtue while they lived on earth. Sometimes people tend to forget saints were not always saints. They were first sinners (with the exception of Mary of course) like us. They lived, worked, struggled, and had tough family issues. Just like us.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Lighting Project At the time of this writing, the new LED lights are in the sanctuary and look great! By this weekend all the bulbs in the nave will be replaced as well. I am very pleased with the result. The lights are brighter in order to help better read our missals (even though I know we are not using them as much now due to covid). However they are not so bright as to distract us. Over the next few years we will see a great amount of savings in our electric bill too. Thanks to Josh Craig, Denis Randall, Joe Guzi, and Mike Merle for making it happen.

Happy 66th Wedding Anniversary to Tony and Jane DiDonato! Fr. Pfeiffer joined them at their home to give them a special blessing to celebrate the wonderful graces God has bestowed upon them for 66 years. What a great example they give to us of the faithfulness in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Lighting Project At the time of this writing, our plan is to start replacing the central nave and sanctuary lights with LED bulbs. This project has been a long time coming, but finally we can finish it. There will be equipment in the church starting Mon. Oct. 19, but should be done by next weekend. Daily masses will continue like normal.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, What about an Anointing Mass? Customarily around this time of year we schedule an opportunity for parishioners to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick on the weekend at or in between the Masses. Due to covid circumstances we cannot celebrate the Sacrament of the Anointing in our customary way. However, this does not mean one cannot receive the sacrament. It just means we cannot do it communally.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Please Be Mindful of Distancing after Masses I know it is difficult because as Christians we want to foster fellowship, which means connecting, talking, and being physically close to others. Well .... we still must strive to follow the guidelines from the Diocese while we are in the church building. Especially after the 8:15 and 9:30 Masses, since there will be increased traffic of people coming and going. Furthermore there are people who want to remain in (or come early to) the church to pray. Because of covid, we must keep our narthex doors open, so when people stick around talking, even in the narthex, the sound will disturb those in the church.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, St. Paul’s 100th Anniversary Update This weekend would have been the closing celebrations of our 100th anniversary year. As sad as it is, we had to cut many of our events, at least one can say that it was unique and memorable. Even so we still move forward with faith, hope, and love. One of our hopes is that now with our new bishop installed, perhaps we can host him here in the near future. Ideally I think our Feast Day on Jan.25, 2021 would be great!

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, New Sunday Schedule Begins! 8:15 OF, 9:30 EF(High), 11:15 OF We are basically returning to our pre-covid schedule with the exception of the 11:15 rather than the 11am. Also we added a Mass in the Extraordinary Form. We are discerning this for a trial period of ten weeks. We will keep track of the numbers at all Masses every weekend so we have information to help us discern. If you are person who likes to get to church very early (which is great by the way), please be mindful of the people coming out from the previous Mass. Especially during Covid we need to clean the pews and maintain social distancing. My advice is do not plan to arrive more than 15 minutes prior to Mass. This should help things go smoothly in the church and in the parking lots.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Next Week Begins New Schedule! Be sure to make any adjustments for next Sunday morning. Due to Covid-19 our weekend attendance is of course much lower but the 10am has been, shall we say, comfortable. We only had a couple weeks where it was full while maintaining social distancing. Now with the three offerings on Sunday, there should be plenty of space for people to feel safe. As you know, one of those Masses will be in the Extraordinary Form. Again we are discerning this for a trial period of ten weeks

Erich and Patricia Bettle celebrated 50 years of marriage! They received a special blessing at Mass for this occasion. In our culture, the importance of marriage is not only downplayed but often attacked. May we thank God as this couple continues to be a blessing for us all.

Paul and Irene Fickert celebrated 60 years of marriage! Thank God for the beautiful sacrament of Matrimony. Paul and Irene show a great example of God’s love and presence in the world. What a joy to bless them on this occasion.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brother and Sisters in Christ, Do You Feel a Bit Lost? This week I invite everyone to acknowledge who we are as disciples of Christ. In this truth is our surest foundation. At the same time, this does not mean we cannot feel fear or distress or frustration or even a righteous anger. With so much confusion and uncertainty in our world, our church, and, admittedly, even in the parish with a possible Mass schedule change, it is appropriate to feel a certain tension. At times we may feel lost. I feel it too! All the more reason to pray and stay close to Christ, Who is our peace.

Sunday Aug. 23, seven young adults from St. Paul Parish received the Sacrament of Confirmation: Grace Mazzagati, Daniel Rudowicz, Makayla Ulery, Alec Sturgill, Gabriel Vance, Garrison Stone, Thomas Tatum. May God the Holy Spirit continue to dwell in them strengthening them to live holy Catholic lives!

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brother and Sisters in Christ, As I write this I am on retreat with seven other priests, all pastors. We are praying for our parishes and people. Especially in this weird time, it is sad but at the same time comforting to know that others are going through it with us and we with them. So many parishes and other brethren in the faith struggle to discern these times and how to live faithfully. Religious, political, cultural, and economic upheaval breed confusion, discouragement, and even despair. All the more reason to hold fast to Christ. He must be our center - the source, the summit and everything in between.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Examining the Sunday Mass Schedule As promised from last week’s column regarding the proposed Sunday Mass schedule change, I offered the opportunity for input from people after the Masses.  Thus far, folks have responded positively. Here is the proposal: 4:30pm Vigil (Ord. Form no music) 7:30am     (Ord. Form no music) 9:00am.   (Extra. Form w/ music) 11:00am.  (Ord. Form w/ music)

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Examining the Mass Schedule As things stand now with our two weekend Masses, current attendance due to Covid-19 does not risk exceeding our church capacity especially since we have overflow seating in the PAC. However, we hope that as things calm down, more Masses will become necessary with more people returning. While we aim for stability we also need to recognize the “signs of the times” around us, which extend beyond the merely physical into the spiritual. This is the time to examine certain aspects of our Mass schedule and discern a way forward.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Pew Missal Giveaway Due to the Covid-19 Liturgical guidelines from the diocese we are not to offer communal pew missals or hymn books. This is why we have not put out the pew missals the past two months. Since the missals we use are renewed each year, we thought it might be helpful for people to take home the ones we have. After all they are just sitting in a closet. After Masses this and next weekend a member from each household may take home a pew missal and keep it as their own. You can bring it back each week and use it for Mass if you wish. But don’t leave it in the pew, we will end up throwing it away.