Fr. Chuck’s Column, May 31, 2020

These are not only unsettling and difficult times we are in, but they are confusing as well. Is it safe to go out? To go to work? To shop, socialize, congregate? And is it safe to go to church?
We have to look to experience, especially what happened at Holy Ghost Church in the Bellaire section of Houston. An elderly priest there, 79, died of pneumonia, and 5 of the 7 Redemptorists who lived with him have tested positive with the coronavirus. Even though the parish had followed cleaning, sanitation and social distancing guidelines prescribed by State health officials since reopening on May 2nd, they determined at that time it was best to close the Church imme-diately to public Masses. And now all Masses at Holy Ghost Church will remain canceled until further notice.
This is a very sobering story. We too follow the cleaning and so-cial distancing guidelines laid out by the State health officials. We wipe down the back of the pews with sanitizing cloths, and keep people at least 6 feet apart. But that apparently is not always enough.
We also have to rely on you. If you are not feeling well, or if you have been exposed to the virus, or you have a compromised im-mune system, or are over 65, the best thing you can do for your-self, your fellow parishioners, and the parish clergy, is to stay home. You are not required to attend Mass on Sunday in this time, and if you are at risk, or not feeling well, you in fact have an obli-gation to NOT come to Mass. Stay home.
Fr Rich and I, just like the Redemptorists at Holy Ghost Church in Houston, live in community. If one of the six Paulists who live in our rectory gets sick with the virus, then ALL of us will have to quarantine. That means there will be NO Masses for at least sev-eral weeks. No Baptisms, no First Communions, no funerals. It would be a complete shut-down.
This is serious folks. So if you are not feeling well, or if you are not sure, be safe for yourself and for our parish, and do not come to Mass. Unfortunately, this is NOT going to change anytime soon. Until there is a vaccine, distancing and isolating are the only protection we have against the virus. That is hard to hear, but it is the truth. Be safe. Keep praying.