November 2020

Update on Church Closures

Dear parishioners,

As you have probably heard, Toronto and Peel Region are moving into lockdown as of today Monday, November 23, 2020. With these measures in place, public Masses are cancelled. For more information, please read the message from Cardinal Collins.

July 2020

Update on the Reopening of Churches

My Dear Parishioners!

As you know, all churches in our Archdiocese have now reopened and we are able to celebrate Holy Mass. In the regard of this positive decision, the Archdiocese issued several guidelines that must be in place to ensure the safety of all participants in the Holy Liturgy.

I will briefly present some of them:

• Until further notice, the faithful cannot sing during Holy Mass, therefore the songbooks were removed from the pews.
• To provide the church with the required distance of 2 meters between liturgy participants, seats in the pews are marked with yellow tape to indicate where to sit. While entering the pew, take the place starting from the center seat so that others can fill up rest of the spots in such order. We are currently only able to fill the church to 30% capacity, and this will allow us to get as many people as possible into the church safely, as we cannot have people passing each other in the pews.
• During Holy Communion, everyone will come out of their pews in turn, including those who do not receive the Eucharist. While going up to receive communion and keeping a distance of 2 meters, we head toward the minister, stand in the designated place before the priest and after the words “Body of Christ” we answer “Amen”. Then, with stretched out hands we approach and receive Holy Communion. Until further notice, this will be the only form of acceptance of Holy Communion. Those who do not receive the Eucharist will still walk in procession, crossing their arms on their chests to receive a blessing. Again, everyone must leave the pew so that we are not passing each other.
• To increase the number of people who may be in the church, the pew section on the left of the main isle will be reserved for families, as members of the same household are not required to maintain 2 meter social distancing.
• We only use bathrooms when absolutely necessary.
• We encourage you to use a personal disinfectant before entering the church.
• The use of face masks or face coverings is now mandatory for anyone attending Mass. Masks may only be partially removed when receiving Holy Communion. Exceptions to the by-law include people who cannot wear a mask for medical reasons (trouble breathing or unable to remove a mask without assistance) and children under the age of two.
• Offerings will be collected after Mass. There will be tables with the offertory baskets at the exit of the church.
• The bulletins in paper form will not be printed. You can access them on the parish website.
• After Mass, please do not gather for social purposes in the parking lot.
• Please arrive at the church 15 minutes before the start of Mass to orderly take your seats in the pews.
• If you feel sick, e.g. have a fever or cough, or any other symptoms potentially related to COVID, please stay at home.
• We would like to continue to dedicate the Holy Mass at 11:00am (in polish) to families with children as much as possible, therefore we ask that people without small children choose a different Mass to attend.
• Please be advised that until further notice there will be no confessions on weekends. Confessions will be held every weekday, half an hour before morning Mass and one hour before the evening Mass.
• The parish office will continue to be closed.

Dear parishioners, all these measures may appear to be a bit complicated but after our first Sunday following these new rules, it will hopefully not feel as overwhelming. I hope that very soon everything will return to normal and we will enjoy participating in the Eucharist without any restrictions.