Parish Update 6/23/2020
Thanks to the generosity of so many parish volunteers, our return to Sunday Mass last weekend went very well:
The attendance ranged from 20 to 55/60 people at each Mass. For two Masses (7:30am and 10:30 am), there was not enough room for everyone in the church, so we had a second Mass in the lower hall.
For at least this coming weekend and next, we are prepared to have an additional Mass in St. Joachim’s gym or St. John’s lower hall once the church is filled for every Mass except the noon at St. Joachim (attendance at that Mass last week was 20). After then, we will make any needed adjustments to the schedule.
We will continue to livestream the 10:30am Mass on Facebook.
If you are at heightened risk for contracting Covid, it may not be a good idea to return to Mass just yet. Please know, though, that we are taking every precaution we can to ensure a safe return for everyone:
Besides Sunday Mass:
Weekday Masses have also resumed: 7am at St. Joachim and 8am at St. John, an hour later in each church on Saturdays. The early Mass usually has 10-15 in the congregation, the later 20-30.
Confessions are at St. John Saturdays from 4:30-5:15pm in the sacristy. For the next few weeks, Confessions will NOT be scheduled at St. Joachim – we are trying to make a space there that allows for proper distancing. If you would like Confession during the week, please call the parish office (838-0915), a priest is available.
St. John’s is open every day from 7am (8am Saturdays) until 8pm for private prayer and meditation.
Lectio Divina (praying with the Sunday Gospel) happens online every Monday from 7:30-8:10pm via Zoom. The link for the room is posted on Facebook each week (the link changes each week), we can also email you a link if you contact us.
The rosary is livestreamed on Facebook at 7:30pm on Tuesdays. You are also welcome to come and pray the rosary in person – we switch back and forth from the outdoor statues of Our Lady at St. Joachim and St. John (this week, we’re at St. John).
Eucharistic Adoration from St. John is livestreamed on Facebook every other Friday, from 7-7:30pm. You are very welcome to come in person as well –the next adoration is Friday, June 3rd.
First Friday Eucharistic Adoration returns on June 3rd. There is a sign-up list in the back of the church.
It’s clear that it will take some time for the parish to resume a somewhat normal schedule. Eventually, there will be guidelines for parish groups to begin meeting again, but that is still a bit in the future. We are working on scheduling the postponed First Communions, Confirmations, and RCIA sacraments. We’re also trying to plan for the safe reopening of our Religious Formation Program. I’ll keep you updated as things develop.
-- Fr. Richard Smith
PARISH UPDATE 6/9/20:
MORE GOOD NEWS!
The Archdiocese of New York has given permission for parishes in the upper counties to prepare for the public celebration of Sunday Masses. We have a little more preparation work to do in order to allow for a smooth beginning.
We plan to begin Sunday Masses on the weekend of JUNE 20th/21st.
Details will follow in the next few days.
In the meantime, we have already begun public weekday Masses:
7am at St. Joachim and 8am at St. John Monday – Friday, an hour later on Saturdays.
PARISH UPDATE: VERY GOOD NEWS! 6/7/2020
We received news this afternoon that we are permitted to begin public celebration of WEEKDAY Mass this coming week.
BEGINNING WEDNESDAY JUNE 10th WEEKDAY MASSES WILL RESUME:
Please note the following restrictions:
We are limited to 25% capacity in the churches.SUNDAY MASSES (INCLUDING THE SATURDAY EVENING VIGIL) REMAIN SUSPENDED. AS SOON AS WE HAVE A DATE WE WILL LET YOU KNOW.
Our parish office at 2 Oak Street reopens this Tuesday, please wear a mask when entering.
IMPORTANT Parish Update 5/22/2020
As many of you know, yesterday Cardinal Dolan held a press conference outlining a plan for the gradual reopening of churches throughout the Archdiocese of New York. The press conference and detailed documents may be found here:
https://archny.org/faithforward/
The plan calls for six phases of reopening our parishes:
Phase I – Churches Open for Private Prayer and Confessions
Phase II - Celebration of Baptisms and Marriages (limited to 10 attendees)
Phase III - Celebration of the Rite of Distributing Holy Communion Outside of Mass
Phase IV – Celebration of Daily and Funeral Masses with Limited Attendance
Phase V – Celebration of Sunday Mass with Supervised Attendance
Resumption of Full Parish Mass Schedules and Sacramental Activities
We are already in Phase I: our churches are open for private prayer, and confessions are regularly scheduled (please note Fr. Erik will be hearing confessions outside of St. Joachim’s today from 3-5). We have not been given specific dates when about we will enter into the next phases(s). It seems that different parts of the Archdiocese will reopen sooner than others. The only information I have is what you will find through the above link.
We are already planning for our gradual reopening (again, with no specific dates just yet):
***Our plan to reopen our churches for Sunday Mass requires more ushers than we have at present. Our ability to add Sunday Masses will be dependent upon the number of ushers we have. If you are willing to help as an usher at Mass in the coming months, please send us an email with your name and contact information: [email protected]. We will eventually have special training sessions to prepare for the new procedures.
Finally, I cannot thank Joe Danza and Janira Quiñones enough for all the time and work they have put into maintaining our website and Facebook page. It’s a labor of love for them both, but one that has taken much more time and effort these past few months. I am not sure how we would have remained connected without them!
Fr. Richard
We now know that the current stay-in-place measures will be in effect until at least May 15th, so a few reminders:
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
St. Joachim, pray for us.
St. John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Masses continue each day in our parish – we remember you and your intentions at each Mass. This will be the strangest Holy Week of our lives – may it still be filled with God’s love and grace as we contemplate and praise God for the gift our redemption in Jesus Christ.
St. Joachim, pray for us.
St. John, pray for us.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Please be sure that you are remembered at Mass each day.
St. Joachim, pray for us.
St. John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Dear St. Joachim-St. John Family,
A few more updates since the beginning of the week:
Finally, please know that you are remembered in the daily Masses of our priests as they also pray for the announced intentions. Right now, almost the only way we can serve you is through prayer – I promise, you have those prayers in abundance.
St. Joachim, pray for us.
St. John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
IMPORTANT UPDATE - 3/16/20 A few clarifications about how things will be at St. Joachim-St. John for the time being:
St. Joachim, pray for us. St. John the Evangelist, pray for us. Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us. |
Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Protection O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick. At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus’ pain, with steadfast faith. You, Our Lady of New York, know what we need. We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform ourselves to the Father’s will and to do what Jesus tells us: He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to bring us, through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection. Amen. We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our pleas – we who are put to the test – and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin. |
PARISH UPDATE - 3/15/20
Dear St. Joachim - St. John Family,
We cannot be certain how long the current restrictions will be in place, nor if there will be further restrictions. For the time being, St. John's will be open every day for private prayer and devotion -- when you come, please use the hand sanitizer at the entrance and maintain the suggested social distancing of six feet. The parish office remains open, and your priests are available if you need someone to talk with (either by phone or in person). Confessions will continue at both churches at the normal times and on request. If someone you know is seriously ill and needs a priest for last rites, please call immediately.
I've sent on the short homily I planned to give today based on the first reading of today's Mass (Exodus 17:3-7). Mass will continue at our parish, though without a congregation. Please know that you are remembered at each Mass.
Finally, please spread the word to other parishioners about this Facebook page and invite others to join it -- for the time being, it and the parish website are the best places both for parish information as things develop and for staying connected as a community.
In Christ,
Fr. Richard
Today’s Homily from Fr. Richard:
1. An English mystic in the Middle Ages by the name of Julian from a town called Norwich, received a series of spiritual visions during the month of May 1373. She was about thirty at the time, and had come down with an illness that brought her to the point of death – and just then, she received these sixteen visions, she called them “showings.” She wrote them down in a collection usually published as “Revelations of Divine Love.” Unlike some other supposed divine visions, Julian’s visions are about a God who is all love, all mercy, through and through. There’s one line that Jesus repeats over and over to her in the visions that captures the theme of the whole thing; Jesus says, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” And then, at one point, God says to Julian: “You shall not be overcome!” I’ll let Julian herself tell us what God means by those words: “God did not say, ‘You shall not be tormented, you shall not be troubled, you shall not be grieved,’ but God said, ‘You shall not be overcome.’ God wants us to pay attention to these words and wants our trust always to be sure and strong, in good times and in bad; for God loves us and is pleased with us, and so God wishes us to love and be pleased with God and put great trust in God; and all shall be well.” In other words, God doesn’t promise that bad things won’t happen in life – they absolutely will – but God does promise that none of those things will have the last word in our lives.
2. Some time later today, take another look at that first reading from Exodus – the people are complaining that God has abandoned them – or, at least, let them down – in their real need in their time in the desert. And then, realize all God had already done to show these people His unconditional love and constant care for them. How God had delivered them from slavery, had led them out of Egypt, victorious over one of (if not the) greatest military powers of the time, and provided for all their needs and cares. And, remember, this had just happened for them. They forgot all of that, they lost confidence in the God who saves, the God who is life. They complain, they doubt, Moses even fears for his life because the people are so angry. And, then, look what God does for them: God, once again, provides.
3. We can be so quick to forget, so quick to doubt, so given over to panic and anxiety. We may not see clearly every step of the road ahead, we cannot know exactly what challenges and struggles and pain are ahead of us – but we can know this: the same God who has unfailingly loved and cared for us to this point will not fail to do the same now and tomorrow. Today, maybe we can’t know just how it will come to be, but we can trust that all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
MASSES CANCELED IN ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK
(New York, NY) In light of the continued concern surrounding the coronavirus, and the advice of medical experts, all Masses in the Archdiocese of New York will be canceled beginning this weekend, March 14-15, 2020.
This development follows upon today’s decision of Dutchess County to prohibit gatherings of more than 20 people. It is also intended to provide clarity and consistency throughout the ten counties that comprise the Archdiocese of New York (Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Dutchess).
Churches will, however, remain open for private prayer.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, urged the faithful to remember in their prayers all those whose lives have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. “Let us pray for all who are sick, as well as doctors, nurses, caregivers, and all those working hard to combat the disease. We should also remember those whose lives have been otherwise disrupted, especially anyone who has lost income from a loss of work during this difficult time.”
A private Mass will be celebrated in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and will be available on many cable systems via the Catholic Faith Network and its website at www.catholicfaithnetwork.org, livestreamed on the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral website at www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/live, and broadcast on radio on The Catholic Channel of Sirius XM (Channel 129).