ST LOUIS IN WAITING

In case you may have missed it, during this time when St. Louis has been closed due to the corona virus pandemic the church has been open on Sunday from 10:00 am until noon for private prayer.  Many people have found this to be a peaceful time to pray, meditate and reflect re-charging spiritually.

Behind the scenes, our parishioner and photographer has been visiting St. Louis Church while we have been shut down.  He has been wandering around the church photographing the interior as it looks during the shutdown.  Mike says:  “Realizing how much we all miss being there, I thought it might be nice to share the photos with you.  To me this series is about how we might feel as we pause and reflect about St. Louis…Patiently, peacefully, silently, our Church is waiting for us to return.”  If you haven’t seen them, please check the St. Louis website News May 15th for A Church in Waiting.

Governor Cuomo and President Trump both created quite a stir last week when they said that churches can open.  The Governor limited opening of churches to 10 people.  How do you do that?  Who is allowed to attend and who gets turned away?  I don’t think anyone wants to make that decision.  The President called churches essential which they are.  What did we learn?  The announcements came out of the blue.  We learned we are not yet ready to open our churches.  We need to put into place a new protocol for how all this will happen.  Parish churches need to procure sanitizing solutions, wipes and hand sanitizer to name a few things that we still need to do.  It is not easy to obtain all of these things because everyone is looking for the same supplies.

We are forming a committee to study the guidelines published by the Diocese last week called “Forward in Faith.”  We need more time to get ready so that when we open our churches we can do it safely, prudently, and responsibly.  This requires more patience, but hopefully soon we will be able to return to Mass.  Everyone is excited to return and we will.

Thank you to all for continuing to support our Parish at this time.  Your generosity and thoughtfulness continues to be inspiring knowing that you are remembering your Parish when we can’t gather as we would like.

May the Lord continue to be with you all, watch over you and protect you until we are able rise from under the cloud that has been hanging over us for all of this time.