Four days of Christmas? Not twelve?

Four days celebrating the Mass of Christmas Day!

A brief survey suggests that many people hope to come to Mass at St. Anthony's and at St. Paul's Chapel this Christmas. How wonderful! Happy news!

Practical problem: we still have limited seating capacity. Therefore:

We will continue to celebrate Christmas Mass during the weekend after Christmas, to give people more options and, hopefully, to spread things out a little. Here is the complete schedule:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2020

• 5:00 P.M. - Mass of Christmas Eve - St. Anthony's
• 8:00 P.M. - Mass of Christmas Night - St. Paul's Chapel
• 10:00 P.M. - Mass of Christmas Night - St. Anthony's

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2020

• 9:00 A.M. - Mass of Christmas Morning - St. Paul's Chapel
• 10:00 aA.M. - Mass of Christmas Morning - St. Anthony's

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2020

• 5:00 P.M. - Mass of Christmas Day - St. Anthony's

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2020

• 7:30 A.M. - Mass of Christmas Day - St. Anthony's
• 9:00 A.M. - Mass of Christmas Day - St. Paul's Chapel
• 10:00 A.M. - Mass of Christmas Day - St. Anthony's

As you can see, that gives you nine Masses to choose from!

IN ADDITION -

On Sunday, December 27, Friar Bob will remain in the nave of St. Anthony's from Noon until 6:00 p.m. to distribute communion quietly. If you still should not attend Mass with crowds but desire communion, you may receive privately in this way. No reservations or anything, just come - although I do ask you to respect other people's privacy and to avoid creating a crowd. I believe that this is a more appropriate alternative than a drive-by communion service.

Is all this allowed? Yes. Actually, we have done this every year. In past years, we celebrated Christmas Masses at Northern Lakes and Lakeland (now Aperion) nursing homes and at Cameron Woods Senior Living Community some time between December 20 and December 29, as those home's schedule allowed. This year, sadly, the parish will not be able to celebrate Christmas Masses outside our actual church buildings - but we still have latitude to offer more Masses.

The survey suggests that the three Masses of Decemberr 24 will be the most crowded. If you are worried about crowds, please consider coming to one of the other six Christmas Masses. Thank you and God bless you. May the Lord of Life keep us all safe!

Fr. Bob


NOTES:

• Our posted capacities in keeping with covid-19 safety protocols are 215 people at St. Anthony's and 100 at St. Paul's.
• Bishop Kevin Rhoades has extended the dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass for an indefinite time ("until further notice"). Christmas is truly a holy day, a holiday, a happy day - but is not a day of obligation this year.
• You are, of course, free to come to as many of these Masses as you choose! If you come to a mass on December 24/25, you are very welcome at any Mass on December 26/27. We are hoping that attendance will spread itself out naturally so we never have to turn anybody away. Hopefully.
• This decision entails that we will not celebrate the Mass of the Holy Family this year.

On the day after Thanksgiving - November 28, 2020 - about 50 parishioners from St. Anthony of Padua Parish and from St. Paul's Chapel observed a day of prayer and fasting as a sacrificial intercession for medical workers in this difficuly time.

Andrea Martin, a parishioner who works as a nurse, writes:

"On behalf of all the healthcare workers at Promedica Coldwater Regional Hospital and elsewhere, thank you!"

COVID-19: OUR CONTINUED RESPONSE

In the readings for the Feast of Christ the King, the Lord God says:

I myself will tend my sheep.
On the day of dark clouds they got scared and ran.
I will rescue them from every place where they are hiding.
The lost I will seek out,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal.
(Ezekiel 34:12,16)

Right now it feels like we are still in the middle of "the day of dark clouds". The big, bad wolf of a coronavirus is attacking our county, our region with a ferocity not yet seen. So many of our parishioners have been quarantined, or are sick with covid, or love someone who is. We know the sun is out there, but the clouds are dark and threatening right now.

I cannot emphasize enough the power of prayer in times of trouble. St. Bonaventure (+1274) said, "When your heart is panting for peace, you must find a balance between intense prayer and caring for other people. ... There is no other way to find God but by opening your eyes in prayer." (Soul's Journey into God)


MASS CONTINUES -
NON-LITURGICAL ACTIVITIES SUSPENDED

On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 the Indiana State Department of Health officially placed Steuben County on condition red for covid-19 cases (link). 0.7% of the county's population is now infected, with hospitalizations and deaths mounting.


The pastoral councils, the finance councils and the staff of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Angola and St. Paul's Chapel at Clear Lake conferred by email and came to the following conclusions:

• Mass will continue as before, keeping the present safety protocol.
• We will continue distributing communion as we have been.
• The daily rosaries will continue, in English at 7:30 a.m., in Spanish at 6:00 p.m.
• All other in person activities will be suspended for two weeks, from Monday 23 November through Sunday 6 December.
• Exceptions include:
  • Confessions on Saturdays
  • Necessary meetings of the St. Paul's Mens Group to carry out the Thanksgiving Solidarity Drive
  • The collection counters - although this will be limited to staff members only (Finance Council members, stay home and stay safe!)
  • The AA group on Saturdays - they will make their own decision to suspend in person meetings or not
  • First Friday devotions on December 4, although confessions that evening might be cancelled
• At the latest on Friday 4 December, Fr. Bob and the staff will decide whether to continue that suspension of extracurricular activites for another two weeks, that is for the period 7-20 December.
• Groups are encouraged to hold virtual meetings. Fr. Bob and the rest of the staff, as well as the Holy Tony Geek Squad, will be available to help groups use the Holy Tony Virtual Meeting Room (v.gd/HolyTonyRoom)
  

  

For the Feast of Christ's Ascension, our parish - together with the entire diocese - will resume public Masses. There will be restrictions. I will update this blog post regularly as things change and develop.

NEW MASS SCHEDULE:

Saturday at 5:00 p.m., Sunday at 7:00, 9:00 & 11:00 a.m.
Weekday Masses resume on Monday, June 1, in the main church.
Spanish Mass resumes on Sunday, June 21.
Mass at Manapogo Campground still to be determined.

The new Sunday schedule allows proper time for cleaning and disinfecting between Masses. The schedule will be reevaluted after August 16.

Here is a short summary of the mandatory safety measures.

• There will be a maximum of 200 people per Mass.
• EVERYONE must wear a mask.
• Every other pew will be blocked off.
• In the pews that are open, maintain 6 feet between families.
• Handshaking and hand holding are suspended.
• Communion will be the host only, and only in the hand.
• There will be no choir.
• There will be no offertory.
• The collection will be taken up by different means.
• The church will be disinfected after every Mass, and fumigated weekly.

That sounds like a lot! This will definitely be a different experience of Mass. Who knows? Maybe we will learn something and grow from this!

Those who are particularly vulnerable - the elderly, those with underlying conditions, infants and small children - should consider not attending Sunday Mass just yet. Remember - the bishop continues to dispense you from any obligation to attend Mass. You might even consider attending a weekday Mass as your weekly Mass.

May the Lord continue to guide us.
friar Bob, pastor

Short answer: I don't know.

As Archbishop Lori has stated (see article below), the bishops will decide. In our case, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, our Ordinary, will decide. As of this writing - Monday, May 4, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. - we still await news from the diocesan administration.

Let it be said clearly: the Governor did not "open up the churches" again. He did not close them, he cannot open them, he claims no power to open or close them. The Indiana state government has consistently acted within the law.

On May 1, Gov. Holcomb announced a new policy called Back On Track Indiana. This plan foresees a gradual reduction of restrictions on public life during May, June and July of 2020. There are five phases. Today we begin Phase 2. That phase recommends - not orders - that religious institutions may consider, maybe, possibly, holding some liturgies again such as weddings and funerals, but only if there are fewer than 25 people present, no one over the age of 65 is present, no one is present who is sick in any way, everyone stays 6 feet apart in the pews, every other pew be left empty, there is no touching and no consumption of, for example, communion, and everyone wears masks. That's not much of a Mass!

So I am guessing that Bishop Rhoades will not start up public Masses again just yet. I remind you that Bishop Rhoades suspended all public Masses BEFORE the secular government issued a Stay at Home order, because it was the morally correct thing to do. As a Church community with a properly installed hierarchy, we will decide how and when to celebrate our liturgies for the good of the people.

So watch this space! As soon as the diocesan administration gives guidance, we will pass it on!

Thank you for your prayers and understanding, your wisdom and your patience. Patience is truly a virtue - and now is a time for virtue, not impetuousness. God bless us all.

__________________________________________________

UPDATE:

On Tuesday, May 5, 2020, Bishop Kevin Rhoades released new directives which foresee public Masses returning for the Solemnity of the Pentecost on May 31st. There may also be some (perhaps limited) form of Mass on the weekend of May 23rd and 24th. There is a lot of information to process. The parish staff will keep the parishioners informed as soon as we can.

by friar Bob Showers OFM Conv.

This article originally appeared in the pariosh's eBulletin for April 24, 2020

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore has a clear message for people who think that the suspension of religious services is a violation of our religious liberty or is some sort of political plot: it is not. Even suggesting that it is puts life in danger and is therefore a sin.
 
Archbp. Lori used to be the chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference Committee on Religious Freedom. He is still the leading member of the board of theological consultants for that committee. On Easter Sunday, Archbp. Lori made a statement with several points:
 
1. The bishops will decide
 
The archbishop reminds Catholics that it was the Catholic bishops who suspended public liturgies, not the civil governments. In many places, Masses were suspended before there were any stay at home orders. It is the bishops who will decide when public Masses will begin again. [For example, in our diocese, Bishop Rhoades suspended public Masses as of March 18, Gov. Holcomb’s stay at home order was not issued until March 23.]
 
The U.S. bishops make this statement not to show their power, but because they want to make clear that no earthly power is forcing us to suspend public events, rather Catholic morality compels us. “One of the overriding responsibilities of government is to keep people safe. This is a health and public safety issue. And this is not only a concern that the government has, it’s also a concern of the church,” the archbishop said. “The Church has to take steps to ensure that we are kept safe and healthy and those steps have to be reasonable, rational. We do not feel as though we have been forced into doing this by the government. We feel like we’re doing the right thing.”
 
This means that it is possible that, even after some local governments lift the stay at home orders, the Roman Catholic Church might decide to wait a little longer.

2. We are a Church of faith and reason
 
“We are a people of faith and reason”, Archbp. Lori said, and the suspension of public liturgies is “eminently reasonable”. Following government orders and guidelines to stem the epidemic “does not in any way attack or undermine our faith or our religious liberty”. The suspension of public Masses and other sacraments is happening “out of pastoral love for our laity, our priests and the people of our society”.
 
3. Good will come of this
 
Even amidst suffering, we believe that God can draw goodness out of any situation. Indeed, there is opportunity here to develop aspects of our Church life and tradition that otherwise are somewhat neglected. “In extraordinary circumstances, God’s grace nonetheless reaches us. And we can certainly draw upon this tremendous treasury of holiness and merit unto which the Church has access during this time as part of our faith always has been and always will be.” As Pope Francis says, “The Church has many resources in our rich tradition.” Now is the time to explore that tradition and make use of our spiritual richness!

"In every age, Christians have suffered for their faith, from the Roman Coliseum to the recent beheadings perpetrated by ISIS. Brave women and men, embracing the cross of Jesus, have gone to their deaths rather than deny their faith, and the blood of these martyrs serves as the 'seed of Christians', enlivening faith in others. Today, the witness of martyrs continues in an especially intense way in the Middle East, where priests are murdered for offering Mass and families are driven from their homes for displaying a cross.

"With this Marian Prayer Program, we honor the martyrs over the centuries as we call particular attention to the suffering of today's Christians ... Featuring the newly commissioned icon of Our Lady Help of Persecuted Christians, the prayer program is the latest in a series of efforts undertaken by the Knights of Columbus to aid those who suffer for their faith. ..."

- from the introduction to the the prayer booklet used that evening

Do you know this blog? Check it out! Most of the articles are by "guest moms" from all across North America - just ordinary moms trying to be Catholic in a fast and exciting world, raising children in love. CATHOLIC MOMS GROUP INTERNATIONAL BLOG

Our parish Catholic Moms Group meets every Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the Parish Center. Children are very welcome! Come share your experiences with other Catholic mothers and be inspired! For more information, contact our Youth & Young Adult Minister, Cara Molyet, at cara@stanthonyangola.com, 260-316-9636.

Here's a sample blog: How to manage your toddler at Mass, from December of 2017.