Stay Safe
Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,
Once again, I pray that you are blessed and safe. It amazes me that the older I get the faster time flies. (I am sure Einstein’s theory of relativity has something to do with this.) A couple of months ago I was struck at how fast our first year has gone by. Now we find ourselves at the end of another liturgical year, and it won’t be long before we celebrate a new calendar year. I don’t think anyone will be too sad to see 2020 in the rear view mirror. While I was pretty sure this pandemic was going to be a long term event, I certainly did not think it would be getting worse rather than better. While the vaccines are promising, how many more will get sick, and how many more of them will die due to Covid 19. Not to mention the amount of emotional and financial suffering caused by the pandemic. There was a story on the news last night about how much this is impacting children, especially younger children. They encouraged parents to be extra diligent in watching for changes in their children’s behavior.
While the state faces another round of shut-downs, the diocese will be issuing some new directives later this week. It looks like we will still be able to keep our church open for mass and funerals, I am expecting that other uses of our facilities may have to be put on hold, at least for the next 3 weeks. This Sunday our attendance was down at all of the masses. While that set off alarms with our Finance Council, I want to once again encourage those who are in high risk categories to consider staying home for the next few weeks and limit your contact with others. I would also ask that if you are sick, or showing symptoms, please stay at home. This may seem obvious, but we have had more than one person cough and hack all through mass.
Fr. Bernie leaves this week and we want to wish him well. The plan is for him to go to St. Clement’s Health Care facility in Liguori, Missouri. Not only is it a much safer place for him at this time, they are hoping to concentrate on his knee and see if they can improve his balance and mobility. Please keep him in your prayers. [If you read this before 9:00 am on Sunday, The Redemptorist community will be celebrating that mass together as part of the farewell.] If the weather permits, we will have a drive-by farewell on Sunday afternoon in the circle drive in front of our house. We will announce the precise time this weekend at all masses and online.
Finally, some good news. Most of our streaming equipment has finally arrived. (HURRAY!!!) We have been running cable and figuring out the placement of cameras and other such details this past week. The final pieces are supposed to arrive by the end of the week. While we purchased two cameras, and have plans for a third, we are going to start simple and only put one up at the moment. I want us to proceed one step at a time so that we can be sure we know what we’re doing before complicating things with multiple cameras and panning and fades and all of that. We are also planning to move to YouTube as our streaming base, since we have had a number of issues with Facebook. We will still post a video there, but the live one will be on YouTube. We will keep you posted as we move forward. We are also looking for volunteers to help with this new ministry. Please contact the office for more info.
Finally, I want to thank those who made donations to our streaming fund. A few individuals, along with the Knights of Columbus, made very generous contributions. This has allowed us to purchase all of the equipment without touching our savings or our normal operating budget. While the pandemic has made this an urgent ministry, it was nevertheless a ministry that we needed to develop. While I am excited about the possibilities, I am glad that we can allow people to safely participate in our masses, funerals and weddings. The number of viewers from around the country (and the Philippines) is amazing.
God bless and stay safe, Fr. Rick