April 2, 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope and pray that this letter finds you at peace and in safety. We, the priests of the parish, miss you truly. We look forward to coming together again when this is over to praise God and to work for His Kingdom.
Holy Week is so special and important. Our streaming of Masses and my little chats seem to have gone over very well. We seem to be reaching more people than ever!
I wanted to bring you up to date on our Holy Week plans:
- Palm Sunday Masses are at 9:00 AM in Italian, 10:30 in English, and 12 noon in Spanish.
- DUE TO THE LOCKDOWN THE DIOCESE HAS INSTRUCTED US NOT TO DISTRIBUTE PALMS ON PALM SUNDAY. THE REASON FOR THIS IS THAT IT WOULD DRAW TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO MAY CONGREGATE BY THE CHURCH. AFTER THE LOCKDOWN THE PALMS WILL BE BLESSED AND AVAILABLE FOR ALL.
- On Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday we will not be streaming daily Masses.
- On Holy Thursday the Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be streamed at 7:00 PM. This will not include the Foot washing, the Procession, the Altar of Repository or Tenebrae.
- On Good Friday we will stream the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion in English at 3:00 PM and in Spanish at 7:00 PM.
- Tri-lingual Stations will be streamed at 5 PM. PLEASE NOTE THEY WILL NOT BE DONE IN THE STREETS AS USUAL. WE WILL USE PICTURES OVER THE INTERNET FOR THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS.
- We will not have the Blessing of the Easter Food.
- The Easter Vigil will be celebrated at 7:00 PM without the Blessing of the New Fire and without any of the Sacraments of Initiation. These sacraments will be rescheduled for later in the year.
- Easter Sunday Masses will be streamed in Italian at 9:00 AM, in English at 10:30 AM and in Spanish at 12 Noon.
I hope that you can join us for these very special liturgies. We continue to pray for all who are sick in our parish, especially those stricken with the Corona virus. May God bless you and your whole family and may Holy Week be a time of spiritual renewal for you!
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Msgr. Fernando Ferrarese
Pastor