Be Prepared and Safe

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed, and that you are continuing to stay safe and healthy. While I realize that many people are getting anxious to return to some sort of normalcy, not to mention those who have financial worries, but I also agree with those who are cautioning us not to rush back before we are ready or without adequate safe guards. I would hate for all this time to have been for nothing if we allow the virus to free reign. I am appalled by those who simply dismiss it and say that some lives will just have to be sacrificed. Of course, they are referring to someone else’s life. I haven’t heard one of them volunteer.

While we realize that churches fall into the latter category of places to be re-open. We did receive some preliminary guidelines from the diocese. While they are subject to change, it at least gives us some parameters with which we can start making plans. It is clear that a lot of thought has gone into them to keep everyone as safe as possible, while returning to communal celebration of The Sacraments. They have asked us to keep most of this to ourselves for the time being. However, we are preparing a mass mailing that will distribute a letter from the bishop along with some information that we can share.

We want to make sure that we reach as many people as possible, and so, we need you to help us. If you are currently getting envelopes and other mailings from us, then we have your address. However, if you are not receiving envelopes or didn’t receive the raffle mailing, then we need you to send us your current address.

What is even more important is your email. Since we cannot afford to do multiple mass mailings, we need other ways to communicate with you. There will be a lot of information, as well as, changes and updates to that information. The quickest and easiest way to communicate that to you is through email. I am asking that you send your preferred and/or most used email address to: office@StAlphonsusGR.org. We lost access to a lot of the emails that we had, and so, we are asking everyone to send us theirs just to make sure we have it. I would also encourage you to include your current phone number. I know a lot of people are canceling their land lines because they only use their cell-phone, but they sometimes forget to tell us.

I would also encourage you to check in frequently with our Web Page, Facebook, or YouTube sites for up to date information. I am sure you have seen reports on the news about the look of our new-normal. Our churches will also look different. At least for now we will have to maintain social-distancing, which means we will be limited in how many people can attend a given mass. So, we are trying to figure out fair and equitable ways to do this, and not have to turn people away at the door. Not only will we need a group to clean, sanitize and prepare our church to re-open, but we will also need several groups to sanitize our church after every mass, weekend and weekdays. For this we are going to need a lot of willing and healthy volunteers. Fr. Chung is working on acquiring the necessary cleaning supplies, masks and gloves. If you can help with that please contact him.

While there are a LOT of details that still need to be worked out, one item to note is that we will not be able to use our new hymnals since they cannot be sanitized. This is true for all books. We are looking at the possibility of creating a worship aide that will have the music. If you like to use the hymnal or a missalette to follow along with the mass you may want to acquire your own missal or missalette. The St. Joseph edition is a popular one. They are even available from Amazon, and they come in a Sunday only or Sunday and weekday version. If you are only concerned with the readings at mass then I would recommend using your New American Bible, which is the version from which the readings are taken. I thought I would share this now as it might help if you join us for mass online. If you have any questions please feel free to contact one of us.

Please continue to stay safe and once you do begin to venture out please use caution and common sense. As the old adage says, “Better to be safe than sorry.” Especially when it comes to our health and a virus that has already taken so many lives. God bless!

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick