Yesterday the Province of Manitoba extended the “Red” restrictions until January 8th. The Archdiocese has not yet sent me an update on our policy, but I think we must presume this means there will not be any public masses until the new year.
New protocols came down today from the Archdiocese following the increased restrictions introduced by the Province. The memo can be read here.
The news reports today that starting tomorrow, September 18th, the Prairie Mountain Health Region will return to the “Yellow” order of Covid precautions, which means parishioners are no longer obliged to wear facemasks. Good news.
For the last two months, if one wanted to attend the Sunday 9:30am Mass in Ste Rose du Lac one needed first to receive an invitation. Since the introduction of the Phase 4 Guidelines by the Province of Manitoba last week, invitations are no longer required.
The Phase 4 guidelines allow faith-based gatherings of up to 30% of room capacity; since Ste Rose Church has seating for at least 350 persons, this allows us to presently host congregations of up to 105. That is a larger number of persons than came to a typical Sunday liturgy in pre-Covid times. Thus unless we see an unanticipated increase in demand for the Sunday liturgy, for the time being anyone who wants to come to Sunday Mass is free to come.
If you prefer a Lord’s Day Mass with less people present, consider attending either the Saturday 5:00 Mass in Ste Rose or the Saturday 7:30 Mass in Laurier. Attendance at those two liturgies is typically under 30 persons.