St. Alban's Reopening Sunday June 14 with Guidelines

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! This Sunday, June 14, we'll be once again worshiping together as St. Alban's Catholic Church! As part of New York's Phase II reopening from the COVID-19 shutdown, churches are allowed to resume public worship up to 25% capacity of the building. In our location at St. Cecilia church, this is more than enough to accommodate our entire congregation with plenty of room to spare. All are welcome to join us on Sunday for the 11 AM Divine Worship Mass following the guidelines below. Our parish priest Father Evan Simington, will hear confessions in the back from 10 - 10:45 AM.

Father Evan, in consultation with St. Alban's pastoral council, has published our protocols and plans going forward in accordance with New York State's regulations. We're grateful for your patience and understanding as we joyfully and carefully resume our celebration of public Mass. 

Because we have members of our St. Alban's parish family that are not able to join us, we plan to broadcast the June 14th Mass for Corpus Christi at 4 PM this Sunday on St. Alban's website and YouTube channel, and our Facebook.

Going forward, we plan to livestream Sunday Mass at 11 AM on St. Alban's website and YouTube channel, with a link posted on our Facebook. This will allow our members to maintain their spiritual fellowship in our worship. If you can't worship with us yet, please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to join us over livestream. 

Please remember to support St. Alban's through the pandemic. You can give online here or by mail to St. Alban's Catholic Church, c/o Fr. Evan Simington, 445 Kings Highway S., Rochester, NY 14617. 

Please read below Father Evan's guidelines for resuming public Mass at St. Alban's Catholic Church.
 

Guidelines for the Resumption of Public Mass

Dear St. Alban’s Faithful and Friends,

Praised be Jesus Christ!  Now and forever.  I write to you today to confirm that with Monroe County now gradually reopening, St. Alban’s Catholic Church will resume public Masses starting this Saturday and Sunday, June 13 & 14 – the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.  In keeping with Bishop Lopes’ charge that we continue to balance our longing and need for the Sacraments with prudential caution in light of the ongoing pandemic and in accordance with New York State’s regulations, please take careful note of the measures and procedures being undertaken as we resume public Masses while protecting the most vulnerable members and friends of our community:

• The obligation to attend Sunday and Holy Day Masses remains commuted.  You may choose to commute your obligation to attend Mass by meditating on the Liturgy of the Word from this Sunday’s readings and offering a Spiritual Act of Communion; or you may choose to offer a family Rosary.  Our parish will continue to broadcast our Masses and make them available for home worship at our home page (www.stalbanscatholic.com) and YouTube channel (St. Alban’s Catholic Church).  This option should remain a matter of serious consideration for those particularly vulnerable to the virus due to age or underlying health conditions. Please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube and St. Alban’s Flocknotes (stalban.flocknote.com) so you can stay connected.

• No person (nor any household that includes a person) with cold or flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, body aches, or other indicators should attend public Mass.

• Attendance at each Mass will be limited to 25% of our seating capacity, which in our case will limit the attendance at each Mass to 100 persons, including the priest, altar servers, organist-cantor, etc.

• Everyone is required to provide their own masks and wear them throughout the entire duration of Mass; only lowering them to receive Holy Communion.

• Pews will be roped off to ensure appropriate distancing between families or individuals of different households.

• Public entrances will be propped open and pews, door handles, and bathroom fixtures will be sanitized on multiple occasions before and after every Mass.

• We will provide copies of St. Alban’s Order of Holy Mass Booklet for you to take home.

• At the time for the distribution of Holy Communion, the usher will dismiss you from your pew, family by family or individual by individual.  The usher will have a bottle of hand sanitizer for you to cleanse your hands as we will be using a central prayer desk kneeler (prie-dieu) and you may lower your face mask at this time.

• While proceeding forward to receive Holy Communion, families or individuals should place their tithes/donations in the collection basket. Anyone who has filled out a welcome card can also place it in the collection basket.

• Please take note of the instructions listed in the worship aid for online donations.

• When you come forward to receive Holy Communion, please maintain the social distancing protocol of remaining 6 feet apart.

• As is the custom at St. Alban’s, we will provide Holy Communion under both species by intinction (when the consecrated Host is dipped into the Precious Blood).  We ask that all communicants come down the center aisle to the central prayer desk kneeler (prie-dieu), and either kneel or remain standing to receive the Eucharist on the tongue.  The priest will cleanse and disinfect his hands between distributing to every single communicant.

• If you are not receiving Holy Communion today, please place your arms in an X across your chest and that will indicate that you would like to receive a blessing.

• Once you have received Holy Communion or your blessing, you may return to your pew by the side aisle.

• At the end of Mass, please maintain social distancing as you leave, and avoid crowding at the exits.

Thank you very much for your kind attention to the many details provided herein.  While we are elated to announce the resumption of public Masses, our joy is tempered by the staggering loss of over 112,000 lives to date, reminding us that our reopening – like so many other aspects of our lives today – must be undertaken with care and deliberation, protecting the most vulnerable among us, even as we return to the Source and Summit of the Christian life.

May God bless and keep you safe during this time of grievous sickness.

God bless,

Fr. Evan Simington

Parochial Administrator of St. Alban’s Catholic Church