Trinity Sunday
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I write to you today with hopeful news. As we have seen in the local paper, the county health official intends to allow churches to open this weekend. What a way to celebrate Trinity Sunday! Unfortunately, this does not mean that all will be back to normal. We will have to follow safety guidelines, such as:
Wearing face masks during Mass.
Sitting 6 feet away from the person next to us (family groups excepted.)
Not engaging in any singing.
Having volunteers sanitize the pews after each Mass.
We will have ushers and other volunteers available at each Mass who will help us with proper social distancing if the need arises. You will notice that every other pew will have blue tape blocking the opening. Once in a pew, please try to keep 6 feet between you and the next person. Of course, family units will be able to sit closely together without any restrictions.
As for the Masses, the church doors will be opened 15 minutes before Mass starts to let the first 100 people in. We will have our normal schedule of Sunday Masses: the 4:30 pm Saturday Vigil, the 6:30 pm Spanish Mass, the 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 am, 12:00 noon, 1:30 pm Latin Mass. There will be no “Kiss of Peace” and no Offertory gifts being brought up the aisle for the foreseeable future. The 6:30 pm Saturday Spanish Mass and the 10:30 am Sunday Mass with Bishop Vasa will continue to be live-streamed for those who, for health or safety reasons, choose not to attend Mass in person. The Obligation to attend Sunday Mass is still suspended, so if you feel that your health may be at risk, or if you do not feel well, please continue to stay at home. As for our weekday Mass schedule, we will not be offering the 6:45 am Mass for the time being, but only the 8:00 am Mass. We will resume the 5:30 pm Latin Mass each Tuesday evening starting next week, June 9th. Weekday Mass will resume as of this Saturday, June 6th. This Mass will also be live-streamed. (Due to recording of the Mass, anyone who would like to attend must be in their pews by 7:50 a.m. The doors will be locked after that.) The Adoration Chapel will remain closed for a while longer, so the Blessed Sacrament will continue to be housed in the Parish Life Center facing the window by the parking lot from 9:00 am - 9:00 pm. We will also begin offering our regular schedule of Confessions on Saturday, June 6th starting at 3:30 pm. Special UVC lighting has been installed in each stall to purify the air between penitents. Both stalls on either side of the priest will be used so that each stall can be purified after each person exits. Confessions will end at the beginning of Mass.
I am looking forward to welcoming you back as we once again worship the Lord together in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. May God bless you and keep you.
—Fr. Epperson
Diaconate Ordination
We are pleased to announce that our Seminarian, Alan Acevedo, will be ordained to the Transitional Diaconate on Saturday, 6 June, at 10:00 a.m. Please join us on the St. Eugene’s YouTube channel and join your prayers to ours as we celebrate Mass.
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