Pastor’s Letter, for Sunday, March 22, 2020 (written March 17, 2020)

Pastor’s Letter, for Sunday, March 22, 2020 (written March 17, 2020)

20 Mar 2020 | Posted by: chadmin

March 17, 2020

Dear friend,

We are all adjusting to the new “normal.” Please know of my continued prayers for everyone in the community. We are all making adjustments to daily life. While the Parish Office is currently closed, we are making adjustments to maintain communication with the St. Philomena Community. I prefer to think of this time as one of physical distance and not social distance. We have many ways of staying in contact with each other. The St. Philomena Parish Staff wants to support and maintain communication as much as possible.

Our school faculty and staff have put in a lot of time and energy to allow for E-Learning at home. For the time being, we are calling our new “homeschool” the St. Philomena Domestic Church. The Second Vatican Council described the family as the domestic church. The Church challenges us to see the home as an extension of our church liturgy and devotion. What happens at home should prepare us for church liturgy and public devotions. School families will receive a daily email with morning announcements, a daily prayer, a spiritual video, and educational options for the day. Each of our teachers are preparing lesson plans and maintaining communication with their students. Special thanks to our faculty and staff for their patience, flexibility, hard work, and love.

We set up a camera in church to live broadcast Mass every day at 8am. We’ve had a few hiccups with sound so be patient. You can watch live at 8am on YouTube or Facebook. Just go to www.stphils.com and click on the YouTube or Facebook icon on the top of the page.  A recording of the Mass is left on the sites to be watched later. We also plan to do additional videos to help with prayer at home: devotions, Rosary, Stations of the Cross.  We will all have to be creative during this time.

We set up a new Facebook group for school and church families to share ideas about keeping close to God and one another. Whether a picture of family Rosary time or watching Mass at home, a funny event of the day or a nice walk in the park. We’d like to encourage people to share opportunities to stay joyful, peaceful and positive, while facing the challenges of these changes to daily life.

Everyone is going to experience a financial effect from the coronavirus. Please use discretion with your finances at this time. If you’d like to continue supporting St. Philomena during the suspension of public liturgy, you can give online or drop off envelopes in our secure mail slot at the Parish Center main office entrance. Just pull up to our office doors under the covered drop off of the parish center and drop your envelope in that slot. We recently set up a new online giving page for St. Philomena This page allows our parishioners, or anyone, a way to give to the church through bank draft, credit card or debit card. It is easy to use, confidential and private. If you would like to make an online gift go to www.stphils.com and select the green button that says DONATE or on our parish app touch the GIVING button. That will bring you to our Give Now portal. You can make gifts one-at-a-time whenever you want to log in, or you can set up a recurring gift to take place of your envelopes. If you have questions or need assistance, please email us at finance@stphils.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can.  The office is closed, but I am here and will get the mail.

Please know of my prayers for everyone in the community during this time. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or needs: frdprichardson@stphils.com or 309-682-8642. The CDC is now recommending no more than ten people at a gathering. Information seems to change daily. We will offer confessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. To sign up for confession visit the Sign up link. Bishop Jenky has completely suspended all Masses and activities/meetings at church and school, until further notice. In agreement with our bishop, I prefer not to put anyone in risk when it’s not essential for life. Thank you for your patience. Hang in there!

God Bless,

Fr. David