COVID 19 Related Announcements / Information
Basic numbers if you need support during this crisis:
When/if you don't know who to call for help: Dial 211
Iowa Concern Hotline: 1-800-447-1985
State of Iowa Coronavirus Hotline: 800-244-7431
Iowa Multi-lingual COVID-19: 877-558-2609
Dept. of Human Services: 319-291-2646
Helping Services for Youth & Families: 800-383-2988
Catholic Charities, Decorah: 800-772-2758
Iowa Legal Aid - https://www.iowalegalaid.org/resource/2020-coronavirus-outbreak-what-you-need-to-know#Evictions
When/if you don't know who to call for help: Dial 211
Iowa Concern Hotline: 1-800-447-1985
State of Iowa Coronavirus Hotline: 800-244-7431
Iowa Multi-lingual COVID-19: 877-558-2609
Dept. of Human Services: 319-291-2646
Helping Services for Youth & Families: 800-383-2988
Catholic Charities, Decorah: 800-772-2758
Iowa Legal Aid - https://www.iowalegalaid.org/resource/2020-coronavirus-outbreak-what-you-need-to-know#Evictions
May 22, 2020
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Shortly after the beginning of Lent we found ourselves entering into a situation that the Church hadn’t experienced for centuries: needing to suspend the celebration of the public celebration of Holy Mass. Praise God, He has allowed us to come out of that time, with caution, the weekend
of Pentecost. I can think of no weekend more fitting, as it celebrates the power of God flowing into His people through the Holy Spirit to go into the world on the mission of sharing the Good News. May it be so for all of us!
Archbishop Jackels intends to continue to dispense Catholics from their obligation to attend Holy Mass, as he says, “probably until a vaccine is available.” If you find yourself in one of the following groups you are encouraged to remain at home and worship with us via livestream, for
your health and the health of others:
- If you are sick, or have recently been sick, or have an underlying medical condition
- If you are frail due to advanced age
- If you are nervous about contracting COVID-19
- If you live with and/or care for someone sick, elderly, at risk, or with COVID-19
- If you work at or regularly visit high-risk situations, where there are COVID-19 cases
Until further notice, our parishes will take the following safety measures:
1) People should avoid mingling before/after gathering in church, and parishes will not host crowd activities, or events like funeral meals and wedding receptions.
2) Social distancing must be observed; that is, people are expected to keep their distance at 6 feet apart, though people in the same household may be closer together. You are also strongly encouraged to wear a mask while in the church.
3) Whenever possible, physical contact should be avoided. We will continue our practices prior to the pandemic of not greeting one another with a handshake, etc. prior to Mass, we will not hold hands during the Our Father, and the Sign of Peace will be omitted. A collection basket will be available at the back of the church on Sunday during the celebration of Holy Mass.
4) Holy water fonts will remain emptied or covered.
5) Missalettes/ song books will be removed from the pews to reduce common surfaces that people are touching. This will mean more simple music during Mass for a time.
6) We will have a minimal number of liturgical ministers, including no scheduled altar servers at this time, to allow for proper distancing as much as possible.
7) Only the Host will be offered at Communion time, and not the chalice. Receiving the Host on the tongue is discouraged, for sanitary reasons. Communion Ministers may wear a mask to distribute the Host, but not gloves, and they should sanitize their hands before/after distribution.
Given the demographics of our parishes, as well as spacing and size considerations, from May 30th/31st through July 18th/19th the weekend Mass schedule will be as follows:
- 4PM Saturday Mass: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Lawler
- 9AM Sunday Mass: St. Luke, St. Lucas
- Noon: Live-streamed on the Cluster Facebook page for those unable to attend
- Daily Masses, beginning Tuesday, June 9th, will be in their regular locations and times.
Following the weekend of July 18th/19th, the situation will be reassessed to determine when social distancing can be relaxed enough to allow for more parishes to have the celebration of Holy Mass on the weekends.
Finally, soon-to-be Fr. Nick Radloff has generously agreed to begin serving our parishes sacramentally upon the reopening for the celebration of Holy Mass, as I currently fall within the population affected by compromised health. I would ask that everyone extend an abundance of charity, patience and kindness to one another, and to him, with these new rules, with the stresses already on so many of us, and because we all share a common love for Jesus.
Let us continue to hold one another in prayer during this time! Come Holy Spirit!
In Christ through Mary,
Fr. Aaron Junge
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Shortly after the beginning of Lent we found ourselves entering into a situation that the Church hadn’t experienced for centuries: needing to suspend the celebration of the public celebration of Holy Mass. Praise God, He has allowed us to come out of that time, with caution, the weekend
of Pentecost. I can think of no weekend more fitting, as it celebrates the power of God flowing into His people through the Holy Spirit to go into the world on the mission of sharing the Good News. May it be so for all of us!
Archbishop Jackels intends to continue to dispense Catholics from their obligation to attend Holy Mass, as he says, “probably until a vaccine is available.” If you find yourself in one of the following groups you are encouraged to remain at home and worship with us via livestream, for
your health and the health of others:
- If you are sick, or have recently been sick, or have an underlying medical condition
- If you are frail due to advanced age
- If you are nervous about contracting COVID-19
- If you live with and/or care for someone sick, elderly, at risk, or with COVID-19
- If you work at or regularly visit high-risk situations, where there are COVID-19 cases
Until further notice, our parishes will take the following safety measures:
1) People should avoid mingling before/after gathering in church, and parishes will not host crowd activities, or events like funeral meals and wedding receptions.
2) Social distancing must be observed; that is, people are expected to keep their distance at 6 feet apart, though people in the same household may be closer together. You are also strongly encouraged to wear a mask while in the church.
3) Whenever possible, physical contact should be avoided. We will continue our practices prior to the pandemic of not greeting one another with a handshake, etc. prior to Mass, we will not hold hands during the Our Father, and the Sign of Peace will be omitted. A collection basket will be available at the back of the church on Sunday during the celebration of Holy Mass.
4) Holy water fonts will remain emptied or covered.
5) Missalettes/ song books will be removed from the pews to reduce common surfaces that people are touching. This will mean more simple music during Mass for a time.
6) We will have a minimal number of liturgical ministers, including no scheduled altar servers at this time, to allow for proper distancing as much as possible.
7) Only the Host will be offered at Communion time, and not the chalice. Receiving the Host on the tongue is discouraged, for sanitary reasons. Communion Ministers may wear a mask to distribute the Host, but not gloves, and they should sanitize their hands before/after distribution.
Given the demographics of our parishes, as well as spacing and size considerations, from May 30th/31st through July 18th/19th the weekend Mass schedule will be as follows:
- 4PM Saturday Mass: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Lawler
- 9AM Sunday Mass: St. Luke, St. Lucas
- Noon: Live-streamed on the Cluster Facebook page for those unable to attend
- Daily Masses, beginning Tuesday, June 9th, will be in their regular locations and times.
Following the weekend of July 18th/19th, the situation will be reassessed to determine when social distancing can be relaxed enough to allow for more parishes to have the celebration of Holy Mass on the weekends.
Finally, soon-to-be Fr. Nick Radloff has generously agreed to begin serving our parishes sacramentally upon the reopening for the celebration of Holy Mass, as I currently fall within the population affected by compromised health. I would ask that everyone extend an abundance of charity, patience and kindness to one another, and to him, with these new rules, with the stresses already on so many of us, and because we all share a common love for Jesus.
Let us continue to hold one another in prayer during this time! Come Holy Spirit!
In Christ through Mary,
Fr. Aaron Junge
Update from Fr. AaronFriends, just to offer a bullet point overview of what is changing right now within the Cluster's liturgical schedule (that we know of):
- All Catholics in the Archdiocese are dispensed from their obligation to attend Mass on Sunday. - Public Daily Mass and Public Sunday Mass are cancelled, effectively immediately (dated: March 16) https://www.facebook.com/ChristOurHopeCluster/ Daily offerings Tuesday—Friday and Sunday will be live streamed on Facebook - Parish church buildings will remain open roughly until sundown (working on exact times), please go pray with Jesus! - Communion may still be taken to the home-bound if you are an instituted extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. Please ask another minister or Father to cover for you if you believe you are ill! - This is a rapidly changing situation and things may change, but if they do, we will do our best to keep everyone up to date with reasonable heads-up. Below you will find the link to the Archdiocese's page related to COVID-19 https://dbqarch.org/coronavirus |
Seal the Door posts is a lot like in the Old Testament where on Passover the blood of the lamb was put over the doors so evil would pass over their house.This is symbolic of that by which we seal our homes with the seal of Divine Mercy. Taping a holy card of Divine Mercy to your front door is all you do! In this time of calamity, the Marian Fathers invite you to participate in a simple but incredibly powerful act of faith. To protect you and your family, we urge you to post an Image of the Divine Mercy on your front doors. Father Chris Alar, MIC, explains why:
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A message from Archbishop Jackels: Reopening of parishes in the Archdiocese of Dubuque |
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I am happy to announce that starting 30-31 May 2020, Pentecost Sunday, the parishes in the Archdiocese of Dubuque are able to gather for outreach to the poor, for faith formation programs, and for the public celebration of Mass and Sacraments - Thanks be to God!
This decision was based on receiving confirmation of our interpretation of the relevant data, namely, that there has been a 14-day downward trend in positive tests, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVD-19 in the 30 northeastern counties in Iowa.
The priests in the Archdiocese of Dubuque are kindly asked not to start before the reopening date of 30-31 May 2020.
The parishioners in the Archdiocese of Dubuque are kindly asked to understand if Mass is not available locally, should the priest decide that it isn’t prudent to reopen on account of his own compromised health situation, or because the coronavirus is still raging in the area.
The reason for the delay between announcing the reopening and actually doing it is to give time to take the necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of everyone. A checklist (download here) is available to suggest what needs attention in our parishes before reopening.
We’re not yet out of the woods; the coronavirus is still with us. If we’re not careful, it could come back with a vengeance. We will continue to monitor the data.
Our policy remains: err on the side of caution. That’s why, at any gathering for outreach to the poor, faith formation, and worship we’ll be asked to do things like wear a mask, practice social distancing, and at Mass, for Holy Communion, receive only the Host, and in the hand.
Also, if we’re sick, or frail due to advanced age, or have an underlying medical condition, or nervous about getting COVID-19, we shouldn’t be gathering together for any reason.
With regard to gathering for a liturgy or a devotional in church, on account of social distancing, there will only be room for a smaller number of people to attend.
But not to worry, because everyone will still remain dispensed from the law to participate in Mass on Sundays and holy days, until further notice, probably when a vaccine is available. Those who want to receive Holy Communion can satisfy that desire at a weekday Mass.
When we open, remember to pray for those who died during the pandemic, and for those who haven’t been able to grieve their passing properly. And pray, too, for people who are sick, for caregivers, and for those who live in fear for their lives and their livelihood.
Gathering for faith formation programs, and for public celebration of Mass and Sacraments are important practices of our holy Catholic Faith. But so is charity, inspiring our care for the poor, and our devotion to the common good, which inspires the precautions we’re taking.
We eventually want the pews filled, and programs well-attended, it just might take some time. Prayers for the end of the pandemic’s threat, as well as patience and cooperation are what’s needed most right now. May God bless us all.
This decision was based on receiving confirmation of our interpretation of the relevant data, namely, that there has been a 14-day downward trend in positive tests, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVD-19 in the 30 northeastern counties in Iowa.
The priests in the Archdiocese of Dubuque are kindly asked not to start before the reopening date of 30-31 May 2020.
The parishioners in the Archdiocese of Dubuque are kindly asked to understand if Mass is not available locally, should the priest decide that it isn’t prudent to reopen on account of his own compromised health situation, or because the coronavirus is still raging in the area.
The reason for the delay between announcing the reopening and actually doing it is to give time to take the necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of everyone. A checklist (download here) is available to suggest what needs attention in our parishes before reopening.
We’re not yet out of the woods; the coronavirus is still with us. If we’re not careful, it could come back with a vengeance. We will continue to monitor the data.
Our policy remains: err on the side of caution. That’s why, at any gathering for outreach to the poor, faith formation, and worship we’ll be asked to do things like wear a mask, practice social distancing, and at Mass, for Holy Communion, receive only the Host, and in the hand.
Also, if we’re sick, or frail due to advanced age, or have an underlying medical condition, or nervous about getting COVID-19, we shouldn’t be gathering together for any reason.
With regard to gathering for a liturgy or a devotional in church, on account of social distancing, there will only be room for a smaller number of people to attend.
But not to worry, because everyone will still remain dispensed from the law to participate in Mass on Sundays and holy days, until further notice, probably when a vaccine is available. Those who want to receive Holy Communion can satisfy that desire at a weekday Mass.
When we open, remember to pray for those who died during the pandemic, and for those who haven’t been able to grieve their passing properly. And pray, too, for people who are sick, for caregivers, and for those who live in fear for their lives and their livelihood.
Gathering for faith formation programs, and for public celebration of Mass and Sacraments are important practices of our holy Catholic Faith. But so is charity, inspiring our care for the poor, and our devotion to the common good, which inspires the precautions we’re taking.
We eventually want the pews filled, and programs well-attended, it just might take some time. Prayers for the end of the pandemic’s threat, as well as patience and cooperation are what’s needed most right now. May God bless us all.
