Dear brothers and sisters,
May the Lord give you peace!
Our Churches Are Reopening!
It is with great joy and thanksgiving to God that we will be opening our church doors this weekend (June 6/7), the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. God is family. And every family – nuclear or Church comes from the family of the Most Holy Trinity. What a beautiful day to gather and begin our journey again together. We are family!
The Mass schedule has changed to meet the needs of bringing our parishioners together in worship with the gathering limits being adhered to.
The schedule for St. Ann’s is:
Saturday: 5:00 pm in the Church
5:00 pm in the Hall
Sunday: 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm
Weekdays: Thursday – Saturday – 9:00 am
The schedule for St John Vianney is:
Saturday: 6:00 pm
Sunday: 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm
Weekdays: Monday – Wednesday – 9:00 am
Over the past week, through information posted on our website, our private Facebook group, our Facebook page, our email communication list and through announcements after each live streamed Mass, parishioners were invited to fill out a survey that would form the basis of a new Mass schedule and then to assign parishioners to a particular Mass. Many that are not on our email list were phoned to collect their responses to the survey questions.
Thank you to all that responded online and over the phone. Your input has shaped the schedule that we have created. We are using a system to manage all the Mass registrations and we are in the process of loading the information from everyone that responded to our survey into that system. When complete, the system will email registration information to anyone that supplied us with an email address. Everyone else will be phoned. Unfortunately, it is simply not possible to accommodate everyone in their preferred Mass times as we are limited to only 50 people in the church at one time. We have worked to use your alternate selections for a Mass time in that instance.
Our Sunday Mass schedule is now at full capacity and we are no longer able to add additional people to attend those Masses. It is not meant to be this way. But these are different times and we will all get through this together with the blessings of God. There will be a time when we will be gathered in large numbers again.
Though Masses are full, we do invite you to come and see if there is space available due to parishioners not being able to attend. However, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to join for Mass. In the event that you are unable to join because of maximum capacity, we invite you to join us at a weekday Mass. You do not need to pre-register for weekday Mass. You can also attend Sunday Mass at 1pm at the Penticton Reserve. Pre-registration is not required.
The Dispensation from the obligation of Sunday Mass still remains in place. We will continue to live-stream Masses at 9:00 am every day (Sunday Mass included). If you desire to attend Mass in person but cannot, know that by watching it live streamed, you will receive all the graces and blessings.
With Pastoral blessings, prayers and gratitude,
Fr. Obi