“Our help is in the name of the Lord…who made Heaven and Earth.”

Dear parishioners,

Probably most of you have heard by now that yesterday, Dr. Bonnie Henry rescinded the variance that had been granted for indoor, in-person gatherings for religious groups. That means no more gatherings in our church, effective today, until April 19th.

To contribute further to Dr. Bonnie Henry’s goal of slowing as much as possible the spread of the variants of concern, we have also cancelled the walk-throughs during the Triduum for which some of you had signed up.

And thirdly, our confession/communion/prayer half-hours are on pause, until April 19th.

I admit to you that this breaks my heart. I know how much confession and communion mean to you. But I have a sense, deep down, that it’s the right thing to do, because our situation is very grave. We know that the variants of concern, now all present in B.C., are more transmissible and cause more grave illness. We have to do everything in our power to slow them down as much as possible. We can only do that together. There is one thing that has worked since the beginning, and that still works and that is, simply staying apart. I appeal to your sense of solidarity with our fellow citizens, to your sense of the common good. Let’s stay apart for a time, but let’s stay connected, as they say in Richmond. Perhaps the situation will be better on April 19th, and we’ll be able to safely open up again for confessions and communion. Also, I remind you that it’s always possible to make an appointment with myself or Fr. Gabriel for confession. Just call the parish office. My extension number is 4, and Fr. Gabriel’s extension number is 3. 

Now a few words about the Triduum. The schedule of live streamed celebrations remains the same. Holy Thursday we will celebrate the mass of the Lord’s Supper online at 5:00 p.m. I’m working on a live streamed Eucharistic Adoration from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Our Good Friday celebration of the Lord’s Passion will be aired, as previously announced, at 3:00 p.m.

The Easter Vigil will begin at 9:00 p.m. Some of you were fortunate enough to receive Easter Vigil candles. Be sure to have them ready for lighting during the Vigil. Actually, any candle will do. Be sure also to prepare a bowl of water, which we will bless during the Vigil and at the 11:15 and 3:00 p.m. masses on Easter Sunday, for the renewal of our baptismal commitment.

Next week, we will resume our pre-Triduum schedule, with the two live streamed masses on Sunday, and live streamed masses Monday to Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Note that the Friday, 7:00 p.m. is replaced by the Friday 9:00 a.m. mass.

An important new development. To compensate at least in part for the shut-down of confession/communion/prayer times, it will be possible to pre-register for in-vehicle attendance at all the celebrations during the Triduum, and all Sunday masses thereafter, till further notice. Pre-registration is required as we are limited to 50 vehicles on the parking lot at a time. You will be asked to remain in your vehicles at all times. Those who are in the vehicle must be members of the same household. At the end of each celebration, we will distribute communion to you in your cars. Finally, we ask that you leave immediately after having received communion. You’ll be able to follow the mass on your smart phones or tablets. I’m told this consumes an awful lot of data. If this should prove to be a problem, let us know, and we can look into obtaining a radio frequency. Two important notes: firstly, these are not celebrations that will be held outdoors. They are celebrated indoors and can only be seen online. Secondly, we cannot allow people to come on foot and attend standing on the parish grounds. It’s just too difficult to control, and the risk of being reported is too great. Sorry about that.

This is pretty well everything that I wanted to share with you at this time. I will return with another pastor’s corner on Easter Sunday. I see one silver lining in the mess that we are in, and that is that we are in a situation that obliges us to experience as we seldom do, the reality of the domestic Church that we all are. If this pandemic will have contributed to making you comfortable with praying as a domestic Church, as a household, that would be a very wonderful thing.

I pray for an inspiring Easter Triduum for everyone, in spite of everything. May God bless us all and keep us all safe over this Easter time. Our help is indeed, in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Fr. Guy