Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and School

OLL HOMECOMING

All liturgical celebrations have resumed at Our Lady of Lourdes, taking place in our parish church, with minimal adaptations or restrictions.

• Those who are fully vaccinated are welcome to be in Church without wearing a face covering. (Face covering may still be worn even with full vaccination.) 

• Those not fully vaccinated are welcome to be present in Church and are required to wear a face covering. 

• By request, limited seating arranged for “social distancing” is available on the North (to the left as you enter) side of the Church.

• Employees and volunteers who are ministering at mass will continue to wear face coverings.

• For now, collection baskets will not be passed, but instead will be located near the entrances/exits of the Church to facilitate receiving of offerings.

• For now, Holy Communion will continue to be shared in the form of bread only, to be received in the hand. Please follow the directions of the ushers in approaching the ministers to receive communion.

• Hand sanitizer is available and its use is encouraged both upon entering and leaving the Church.

You may care to know that for now, the Church will continue to be sanitized throughout the week and at the weekend.

Our Current Mass Schedule is as follows:

*We are committed to continuing to Livestream designated liturgies into the future.

We anticipate keeping this mass schedule through Labor Day weekend, initially. In the coming weeks and months we will continuously review the schedule and will adapt as necessary. 

NOTE: Guidelines and video below were designed while the COVID-19 restrictions were in place for indoor public Mass 

CLICK HERE OR ON IMAGE BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO

  Welcome  
  Bienvenidos  
  Mabuhay 

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY BEFORE ATTENDING MASS

In these extraordinary times, our return to Church and the celebration of public mass will look and feel different for some time to come. Thank you for your patience and your cooperation as we work together to make this a successful, healthy and faith-filled return to the public celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy at Our Lady of Lourdes. 

NOTE: Please review the CDC recommendations before coming to Mass. If you are in an “at-risk” group, please join in worship with us through our ZOOM link. 

Before You Leave Home

• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds.
• Church restroom facilities will be open for emergency use only. Please be prepared before you come to Church.
• Make sure you have a suitable mask or face-covering for all persons over the age of 2. Children with breathing difficulties should not wear a face covering (per LA Co. Guidance for Face Coverings).
• Plan to arrive about 20 minutes before mass is scheduled to begin. Doors will open 15 minutes before mass.

Upon Arrival in the Parking Lot

• Park carefully, observing that cars should park in every other space to allow for social distancing.
• Before leaving your vehicle, ensure everyone in your party is wearing their mask/face-covering.
• Walk toward the patio area closest to Stroup Hall (as though entering Stroup Hall), and you will be greeted as you approach.

Check-In

As you approach the patio, a Greeter will ask you for your name, and ask you to verify your contact information. (Anyone who is not pre-registered will be directed to a “stand-by” line.) There will also be a check to ensure that each person is wearing a mask/face-covering.

Symptoms Check

Follow the directions of the greeters to the next step, which involves a review of symptoms for COVID-19. Everyone will be asked to verify that they have not shown symptoms in the past 14 days.

Once again, follow the directions of the volunteers and staff.

Hand Sanitizer

The next station is located at the base of the ramp leading to the Church entrance, at the Church wall behind the statue of Jesus. Here everyone will be asked to sanitize their hands.

Single-Door Entry

When hands are sanitized, proceed up the ramp to the door. Here you will be greeted once again, and asked to check your name before entering into the Church building. 

Door-to-Pew Escort

• Once again, observing social distance, wait until an usher meets you and escorts you to a pew inside the Church. Please patiently accept the direction of the usher showing you to your seat. 
• People will be seated from front to back, and families will be seated together. The number of people in your party, and the placement of people already in Church will factor in the seating arrangement. 
• Once you arrive at your pew, take your place until mass commences, remaining there until an usher invites you to leave the pew again when it is time for communion at the conclusion of mass.

PROCEDURES DURING MASS 

• During Mass, masks/face-coverings must be worn.
• The celebration of the liturgy will be necessarily minimal, with little or no singing, curtailed movement of ministers, and with everything taking place at the altar. If you have been watching mass on ZOOM, this will be familiar, otherwise it may seem oddly strange. (A tripod will be placed at the front of the altar in order to facilitate the ZOOM broadcast of the mass to those who can not be present physically in Church.)
• There will be no missalettes/envelopes in the pews. 
• There will be no basket passed to collect offerings. A basket will be placed by the font, where you may leave your offering as you depart.
• We ask that there be no physical contact during the Lord’s Prayer or Sign of Peace, even between members of the same household.

Receiving the Eucharist

If you have brought your personal sanitizer with you, we recommend that you use it to sanitize your hands before receiving communion.

Ushers will invite people to come forward in procession, observing social distance, to one of two ministers distributing communion in front of the altar. Please be prepared to move when invited, but do not leave your pew until asked to do so by the usher. 

We ask that you follow the lead of the ushers when moving from the pews to the altar. Remember to maintain social distancing of 6’ while moving. Visual cues will be available to help you.

• Keep your mask/face-covering in place as you approach the priest. 
• Receive only in the hand. 
• Step to the side, remove your mask/face-covering, and consume the Sacred Body of Christ. 
• Immediately replace your mask, turning to walk down the center aisle. 

(Families with younger children might want to practice this at home in advance)

• As you approach the Baptismal Font, your weekly contribution may be placed in the basket found on the table. 
• Turn left, and proceed to exit the building by the side door leading out to the parking lot. 
• We kindly ask that all worshippers promptly leave the church when directed, in order that the church can be immediately sanitized in preparation for the next mass.

AFTER MASS

Please do not linger near the doorway as people will be following behind you and we will all need to continue to observe social distancing. We ask that you go carefully, and directly to your cars. All traffic is to exit the parking lot to the south, and on to Superior Street.

We look forward to having you join us again next Sunday.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

It is our earnest hope that these temporary practices will not be part of our reality long enough for us to become comfortable with them. They invite us all to make sacrifices of comfort and ease with which we associate coming to Church among our Lourdes Family. We choose to do these things as an expression of care and concern for one another, for those who worship alongside us in our Church. We look forward with great hope to that day when we will all gather together as we once did, looking back at these days as crazy, and by God’s grace never again to be repeated.