We are exploring the option of holding one Christmas Mass in the St. Ann’s parking lot for those parishioners who cannot watch Mass on their TV or on their computer, or those that would simply prefer to participate in a Mass near the church.
We would like to hear from you to see if this is of interest.
This message is only reaching people through electronic means. Do you know anyone that would like to participate in Christmas Mass and do not receive emails or have the ability to watch live stream Mass?
Please contact them to see if they would like this option and then let us know.
It would look something like this:
- We are considering this special Mass would likely be on Christmas Eve at 3:00pm.
- Father would celebrate Mass from the porch door at the back of the sacristy. Hopefully, this elevated position would make him visible to most people.
- Mass would be broadcast to the FM radios in your cars. We would ask that you ensure that you know how to tune to a particular FM frequency before coming to Mass as pandemic protocols would limit our ability to assist people in the parking lot.
- Weather (cold, rain, or snow) could affect people’s ability to keep warm and keep their windows clear. We would prefer that people keep their vehicles off as much as possible to reduce emissions but understand that engines may need to run periodically. Perhaps bringing blankets would help and remind us of the humble Nativity of our Lord.
- Holy Communion would be distributed after Mass with you in your vehicles.
- To remain in compliance with Public Health Orders we need to control entrances and exits, limit attendance to 50 vehicles, and people must remain in their vehicles the entire time.
- If you have a choice between a large vehicle and small one, please choose the smaller one to make the parking situation easier and to improve the view from the vehicles around you.
- Cars must enter the parking lot from the laneway on the south side of Holy Cross school and will be directed into a parking arrangement that faces the church building. As we would not be following the usual parking lines you will need to follow the instructions of our volunteers to park your vehicle.
Please email catholicpenticton@gmail.com by Friday, December 18, if you or someone you’ve contacted would be interested so we can determine whether to proceed with this idea. Please indicate how many vehicles, the name of the family that would be in the vehicles (we do not need to know how many people will be in each vehicle), and whether the reason for attending Mass in this manner is because they cannot watch Mass on TV or over the Internet.
Should we receive interest from more than 50 vehicles then preference would be given to those individuals that do not have the ability to watch Mass on TV or over the Internet.
Thank you and God Bless.