“The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced…Restore our fortunes, O Lord, may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.” Ps 126

Dear parishioners,

Today’s readings are full of hope and of promises of joy to come. Very timely in these turbulent times. May they help us to keep our sights squarely on God, on Jesus, the only infallible rock of our hope and serenity.

In the same vein of joyful hope, I hope you will be with us on this Wednesday, December 8th, as we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary at the 7:00 p.m. mass, followed by our beautiful Living Rosary celebration. If you can’t make it in person, it will be live streamed on our Youtube channel, and you can also watch it on tv, channel 876, if your television provider is Telus-Optic.

Still more good news: next Saturday, December 11th, at 11:00 a.m., we will celebrate the mass of anointing for seniors and people who are ill. 

I refer you to the parish bulletin and to the parish website for the special schedule of confession times and masses for Christmas and New Year’s.

We’ve received word of new limitations on attendance at religious services, effective immediately. We have two choices. We can either restrict attendance to half of church capacity, which for us is 350 people, or we can have unlimited attendance, in which case we must verify everyone for proof of full vaccination at the entrance. Weekday masses are fine, but we need to come up with a plan for Sunday masses. Verifying proof of full vaccination at the entrance to the church is as difficult to do as it is undesirable. For us, this is not an option. On the other hand, if we limit attendance to half of capacity, we are not required to pre-register people, and collect contact info. Nor are we required to check people in. So this seems to be the preferable option. We do, however, have to control numbers, and close the door when we have exceeded half of capacity.. Since we are currently at an overall attendance of half of pre-pandemic times, and since we’ve been told that we’re not held to a strict application of the 50% rule, we’re not overly concerned. Odds are, no one will be turned away, at least in the near future.

Just so you’ll know, right now, the least attended masses are the last four, namely, 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. If you come to any one of those masses, you are certain to be allowed in. 

We’re terribly sorry that it has come to this. We remind you that we are still live streaming the 11:15 and 3:00 p.m. Sunday masses, and you access them on our Youtube channel, or on channel 876 if your television provider is Telus-Optic.

This isn’t good news, especially heading into the Christmas season, but let’s stay focused on what we know: distancing, wearing masks, avoiding gatherings in enclosed spaces with people we don’t live with, and most of all, vaccination, all these things, especially in combination, are very effective in preventing the spread of the virus. So let’s just stay the course. We will get through this. It’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, keep safe, God bless. 

Fr. Guy