Sept. 25 update from Fr. Sean

Parish Update – Friday, Sept. 25

Happy Friday, one and all. I trust you made it through the wet weather earlier this week without too much trouble. That was one weird tropical storm, wasn’t it? Beta didn’t seem to want to make up its mind of where it wanted to go so it just sort of moseyed, as we say in Texas, all over the region, taking its sweet time to dump a bunch of rain on all of us. Let’s pray that was the last named storm for the year, though as we know all too well around these parts, it would be prudent to keep our guard up for a little bit longer.  

On this  26th Sunday in Ordinary Time we will hear in the Gospel from St. Matthew a continuation of Jesus’ teaching about repenting and following him. The chief priests lament, as they always do, that he socializes with “tax collectors and prostitutes.” It’s undignified, they say, and not worthy of God. Of course, the Son of God knows much more than they, that’s it not who “they are” but “who they can become.” … I often repeat what I heard long ago:  God loves you just as you are, but he loves too much to let you stay just as you are. May we heed his call to repent of our sins and follow him on the way to everlasting life.

We’ve got several items to bring to your attention this week so let’s get right to it:

• Of course, we invite you to please join us for Mass via our  livestream on Sunday at 9 a.m. on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. You can find the link to the livestream at  www.ctrcc.com/live-stream, and in addition, you’ll find there both a worship aid and a link to the Scripture readings to follow along with Mass. And you can make your weekly offertory contribution online at  www.ctrcc.com/donate. If you’d like to join us in person for Mass, we welcome you on Saturday at 5 p.m., or Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

This week, with the permission of  Cardinal DiNardo, the parishes of the Archdiocese are able to expand seating to 50 percent of capacity, up from 25 percent, which has been in place since we reopened in early April. That translates to about 600 persons for us at CtR. I don’t anticipate we’ll get close to that many people in attendance just yet, but it’s nice to have the option to welcome more people back to the pew. We’ll be ready for whoever comes!

To start, we will still enter through the west side door of the narthex  and we will also open the east side door, too. The ushers will direct you to your seat as before, and we’ll fill up the church from front to back, still skipping every other pew. Once we reach the back, we’ll then start to “back-fill” people into the open pews. That means there will likely be people in the pew behind or in front of you,  but we ask that you not sit directly behind someone – try to stagger yourselves in the pews. It may not always be possible, but let’s aim for that idea. 

Most importantly, keep social distance between yourself and others who are not part of your family. If you hold out your arms to the side, your hands should not be able to touch the persons to your right or left. (Think of Michelangelo’s famous painting, “The Creation of Adam,” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – you should aim to mimic God and Adam reaching out at a distance to each other!) Of course, couples and families will sit side-by-side, but given the length of some of our pews, we should easily be able to get multiple people in the same pew and still maintain about six feet of separation. 

These are the only changes that are being implemented at this time. Everyone must still wear a mask and we ask that you sanitize your hands as you enter the sanctuary. Communion is still distributed only in the hand, and we ask that maintain social distance throughout Mass and while you are exiting the church. We will open the side doors to help expedite dismissal, but of course, do not leave until the final blessing. 

We’ve met with our ushers and we’ve got a good plan in place of how we will handle this increase, but we’ll see how it plays itself in real time with actual people in the pews. We can theorize what might work (and not work), but we need to see how it goes with actual people in the pews so I ask for your patience these next couple weeks as we dial in our procedures. I’m grateful to  Ofelia Carrasco, our Director of Liturgy, and her dedicated team of volunteer ministers. They are doing great work in keeping us organized and safe.

Let’s see how it goes for a week or two, and then we’ll tweak our procedures as needed. Thank you for your continued cooperation. No system will be perfect, but we’re all in this together, and as one Body of Christ we can stay safe and look out for each other as we worship our Lord. May God bless all our efforts.

• Our dedicated Knights of Columbus Council 8771 is hosting a  Virtual Open House next Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. I encourage the men of the parish who are not yet Knights to log in and discover what this vital ministry is all about. The KCs offer themselves to the service of the parish in many and varied ways, and though they are unable to get out as much right now as is normally the case, they are still very much at work behind the scenes. … Like all of our groups and organizations, I know they are anxious to resume public ministry soon. I, too, look forward to seeing them. It’s going to happen, but for now I highly encourage those of you have been meaning to explore becoming a Knight to visit our KC webpage at  www.ctrcc.com/knights for information on how to join the virtual meeting.

• As we enter into October I remind you that this month is dedicated to honoring the dignity of human life. Respecting life means honoring the sanctity of life at all ages, from the unborn to the very old, and everyone in between. Believe it or not, there is a great need to respond to the needs of mothers, particularly single mothers and mothers who live on the margins. They often don’t have the basic necessities for themselves as they try to provide for their children.

In response, our  Respect Life Ministry, in conjunction with our  St. Anne’s Society of young mothers, is putting a different spin on a collection drive this year. Having taken note of the great need for feminine hygiene products and adult and children’s diapers at CAM and Catholic Charities, they are asking for donations to be sent via an  Amazon Wish List. You can access the list at  www.ctrcc.com/respectlife. Those are the kinds of items that are not often donated, but the need for them is great. … We’ll also accept the donation at the parish beginning next weekend, but in an effort to reduce contact, the Amazon list is the best option. The items will be sent directly to St. Anne’s Society, who in turn will distribute the feminine hygiene products to CAM, and the diapers to Catholic Charities and Our Mother of Mercy, our twinned parish.

Be sure to check the  Respect Life web page for more plans for Respect Life Month, including a day of prayer at Planned Parenthood, and a Catholic Bioethics virtual educational series. As this is the 25th anniversary year of St. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical,  Evangelium Vitae , “The Gospel of Life,” it’s a good opportunity for us to focus our efforts this coming month of October on honoring the life of all of God’s people. My thanks to  Kerry Chu of our Respect Life Ministry for her efforts in helping us keep this important teaching of our Church foremost in our hearts.

• Please pray for the first two of our three groups of high school students who will receive the  Sacrament of Confirmation this coming Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 28 and 29. Their ceremony has been delayed since May, but it will be my honor to confirm them in the faith this week. In addition to the two services this coming week, we’ve got one more scheduled in October. … In an effort to catch up all the parishes that missed their confirmation dates in the spring, Cardinal DiNardo has delegated the deans and vicars of the Archdiocese to celebrate the sacrament in his place. I’m the dean of the Northwest Deanery, a 17-parish grouping of parishes that ranges from St. Rose of Lima in the Heights to Epiphany of the Lord in Katy, and as such, I will be the presider for our own Confirmation masses as well as at a few others parishes, too. …  May the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit enlighten their hearts. Thanks to all our teens and their parents as we waited for permission from the Archdiocese to move forward with the ceremony.

• One of our favorite events of the year, the annual  Blessing of the Animals in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, takes place next Saturday, Oct. 3. This is always a fun event, but like all things this year, we’ll need to get a bit creative so that we can respect social distancing protocols. We’re making this a  “Bless, Bark (or Meow) and Go” event this year, and so please plan to join us anytime between 11:30 a.m. – 12 noon next Saturday in the driveway between the Church and Parish Life Center. … Stay in your car the entire time, and swing by under the covered drop-off in front of the Parish Hall.  Fr. Vincent and I will be there for 30 minutes and we’ll be happy to bless all your furry friends – and you, too! – from six feet away. It will be kind of like our school carline drop-off, only with four-legged animals instead of two! All creatures, great and small, are invited to swing by.

• We’ve got no shortage of saints to call upon this final week of September and first week of October. We start with  St. Wenceslaus (“Good King Wenceslaus”) next Monday, Sept. 28, followed by the  Archangels, Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael the next day, Tuesday, Sept. 29, followed by  St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, followed by the beloved  St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, or Child of Jesus, on Thursday, Oct. 1, and then we close out the week with the  Guardian Angels on Friday, Oct. 2. (Plus,  St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day is on Oct. 4.) … Whew! That’s quite a collection of saints to seek the intercession of, and that’s important these days. Join with me in saying:  All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Peace, Fr. Sean

P.S.: Here's a fun fact for today: It's three months until Christmas – Sept. 25 to Dec. 25. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel