Dear parishioners,

Happy Solennity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Firstly and most importantly, I want to share with you an important decision that we have made, to begin reopening the church for physical participation in masses. This will begin on Monday July 6th. In an initial phase, we will be opening only for weekday masses from Monday to Saturday, for a maximum of 50 people in the church. The schedule of weekday masses will be the same as our current schedule for live streamed masses, that is, Monday to Saturday, 9:00 a.m. and Wednesday to Friday, 7:00 p.m. those who attend on the first and third Friday evening masses will be welcome to stay for adoration. This opening will be subject to the conditions that there is no spike in daily new cases of Covid-19, and that we are able to find ushers for each mass, which is essential for a safe reopening. Sign-up will be required for attendance at any particular mass. Much more information will follow presently, as we work out the various elements involved in opening up, and most importantly in the short term, the process for signing up.

What follows here is almost all information that I’ve shared with you previously, but that I think it is useful to repeat.

  1. Just a reminder: Fr. Gabriel and I are taking appointments for confessions. Simply call the office. Fr. Gabriel’s extension is 3; mine is 4. If we’re not there to pick up the phone, we return calls promptly.
  2. Once again, I wish to thank all those who are in a position to do so and who are continuing to contribute financially to the parish. I urge those of you who aren’t doing so and who are able, to please consider giving, however modestly, to the parish. You can do it online by going to our parish website, stmarysvancouver.ca , where you will find two online options, CanadaHelps and the archdiocesan platform. When we will have opened up for weekday masses, you will be able to deposit your Sunday offering envelope in a box in the sanctuary, during offertory.  We’ve cut back on expenditures as much as we could, but some are unavoidable. Thanks again and God bless you, to all those who are helping us out.
  3. Again, a reminder: if you wish to receive the emails we send out, you must register on the parish website, even though you’ve already given us your email address to be included in our cluster, and even if you are already registered as a parishioner of St. Mary’s. Just go the website’s main page, click on “sign up”, and you will be asked for your name, email address, and to create a password. Click on “get started” and you will be taken to the page for registering. There are a lot of fields that you are invited to fill in. You are welcome to do so, but you don’t have to. The only fields you have to fill in to receive emails are “first name”, “name”, and “email address”.
  4. If you know of a parishioner who is isolated and perhaps suffering from loneliness or anxiety, and who may have needs that we are in a position to help with, why not call them, or call the office and speak to Lorna, or email her at [email protected] . Lorna is the coordinator of our phone ministry team, and she will follow up.
  5. We have resumed baptisms, which we celebrate individually, one baby at a time, to keep the numbers down. The information on how to register for baptism is in the bulletin.
  6. We also are celebrating marriages and funerals, on the condition that attendance can be kept to a minimum.

 All the information that you have read here will also be posted on our website, our Facebook page, and our Instagram page. As always, help us out by sharing everything you’ve learned here with other parishioners who might not have read this.

God bless you and keep you all safe and well. 

Fr. Guy