Mass returns outdoors

By Guest

Parishioners gather for Sunday Mass in the parking lot of St. John the Evangelist Church. (Moira Sweetland photo)

Reprinted with permission from the Canton Catholic Community Newsletter

Today I would like to address the mundane and the profound. First, we are in the process of reopening. We recently celebrated a joyful Mass in St. Gerard’s parking lot. Parishioners either sat in chairs that they brought with them or remained in their cars. The latter could hear the Mass by tuning their radios to 89.5. On Sunday, June 7, we celebrated Mass in St. John’s parking lot using a similar format. We will continue to livestream Mass at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and it can be viewed anytime afterwards on YouTube. During a recent Mass, approximately 350 households watched live and many other families later tuned in to the Canton Catholic Community YouTube channel.

It is important to remember that we are in Phase 2 of a four-phased reopening plan. The coronavirus remains in our midst and its effects are serious, especially for the most vulnerable. If you are in an at-risk group, you should remain at home. The dispensation from attending Mass remains in effect. At our Masses we follow recommended social distancing and sanitizing practices.

Our reopening committee will finalize a plan for each of the churches, and it will be submitted to the Archdiocese for approval and then presented to the town. When accounting for social distancing, our 40 percent capacity substantially diminishes. We are working on a few scenarios in the hope that we can reach a number closer to 120 than 100.

While we will probably continue with outdoor Sunday Masses for the summer, we will celebrate funeral Masses in our churches. The guidelines will be forwarded to local funeral directors and posted on our website.

Now on to the profound. Our nation’s death toll from COVID-19 recently surpassed the 100,000 mark. We are all aware of the heartache of families who couldn’t mourn the death of loved ones. We have family members and friends in residential facilities unable to receive visitors. Graduations, weddings, and all sorts of anticipated events have been canceled or postponed. In Italy, Pope Francis has emerged as healer and leader, by word and example, among believers and non-believers. In other nations, key figures, usually national leaders, have united even disparate groups in an effort to reduce contagion and endure the inconveniences of compliance with public health and safety measures. Sadly, there appears little movement toward unity in our country.

That absence of solidarity has been acutely on display since May 25, the day George Floyd was senselessly murdered in broad daylight by officers charged with keeping the peace. In his 2009 book, A Nation on Fire: America in Wake of the King Assassination, author Clay Risen points out that in 1968 following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, New York City and Boston avoided the riots that plagued so many other cities because their mayors understood the anger of the aggrieved and respected their perspective. That empathy enabled Mayor Kevin White to take the stage at a James Brown concert and call for restraint. Arm in arm, Brown and White appealed for peace. That event has been memorialized in a PBS documentary, The Night James Brown Saved Boston. Risen credits New York Mayor John Lindsay’s insistence on visibly walking the streets of all neighborhoods with calming tensions.

We need to pray for healing and unity in our country. We need to respect one another, even those with whom we disagree. I do not believe that our nation’s foundational institutions are fundamentally flawed. Instead, I think they hold great promise. Our challenge is to live up to their potential. That is a goal worthy of our prayers.

In Christ,

Father Tom Rafferty

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