The archdiocese has directed that parishes not ask for proof of vaccination.
The Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has indicated that there are no ethical obstacles to Catholics being vaccinated against COVID.
Mass attendance is now restricted to one third of capacity. That allows 99 people to attend each Mass at St. Emile in addition to clergy and lay ministers in keeping with the latest provincial regulations.
Face masks must be worn indoors at all times. That includes inside the church, the office area, and the parish centre.
There are face mask exemptions for those under five, those who are unable to put on or remove a face mask unaided, and those who are having difficulty breathing in the present moment. If you forget your mask when you attend a Sunday Mass, a greeter will be glad to provide one for you.
Everyone is required to sign in so the parish can provide contact tracing informaton to the Ministry of Health should anyone attending Mass later test positive for COVID.
Households need to maintain a distance of six feet (two metres) from each other in all directions.
Sanitization of hands and hard surfaces continues.
Please remember to self-screen the day you attend Mass. If you feel ill, stay home.
Approach the altar to receive communion up the middle aisle in single file and return to your seat by a side aisle to avoid bumping into each other and coming too close to those who are seated.
It is especially important during the pandemic that everyone arrive for Mass before the sacred liturgy begins. Sign-in, self-screening checks, and social distancing require the attention of the greeters and create a certain amount of disruption. It's impossible to sneak quietly into a back pew during a pandemic.
Daily Mass:
9:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday in the church.
Sunday Mass:
5 p.m. on Saturday
9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m. on Sunday
Mass is streamed live on Facebook and our web site at 9:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and at 5 p.m. on Saturday (the anticipated Sunday Mass).
Everyone must sit in a pew with green tape. This provides a distance of two metres between occupied pews.
Individuals and households of two or three should sit in the side pews to allow larger households to occupy the long pews. This is crucial to fitting in a much larger number of people while maintaining distance between households. (A single person sitting at the end of a long pew takes up six feet of space on a bench because of social distancing requirements.)
Please enter the church through the front doors and leave by the side doors to the parking lot to maintain social distancing. Do not exit by the large front doors.
When capacity is reached, greeters will lock the doors. Please do not knock or attempt to enter to avoid disrupting Mass.
The church doors open 30 minutes before Mass is scheduled to begin.
♦ Mass at St. Emile
♦ The National Catholic Broadcast Council broadcasts Mass on their web site.
♦ The National Catholic Broadcast Council also streams Mass daily on YouTube.
♦ Salt and Light televises Mass daily. The schedule is available here.
♦ EWTN televises Mass daily. The schedule is available here.
♦ EWTN streams Mass live on YouTube.
"The Church encourages frequent, even daily, Holy Communion, but if at any time we cannot go to Mass in or out of this season of the coronavirus, we can still unite ourselves to the Eucharist through making a spiritual Communion.
By making an Act of Spiritual Communion, we express our faith in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist and ask him to unite himself with us."
Read more from Patti Armstrong at the National Catholic Register.
"My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen."
-- Act of Spiritual Communion
from St.Alphonsus Liguori --