St. Michael  Parish

UPDATES

Dear Friends,

In light of the Town of Exeter renewing a mask ordinance for indoor spaces and the local health care system in danger of being overwhelmed with hospitalizations, I ask you, for now, to please wear a mask while attending Mass or interacting with others inside the church and other buildings in the parish.  Priests and other ministers will again resume mask-wearing in procession and during the distribution of communion.

While we are all tired of the Covid-19 pandemic after nearly two years, I thank you for once more making a small sacrifice for the common good.  Even though we face a challenging few weeks ahead with a very contagious variant spreading rapidly, on top of an already raging pandemic and the flu season, there are glimmers of hope that we are nearing the end of the pandemic and there are positive signs that the new variant may also cause less severe disease.  Many of us, due to vaccination or prior infection, may be at very little danger of severe disease, but we can still spread a virus to others.  The sheer number of potential cases all at once and the potential of a short but very high surge requires this temporary step.

I also recognize there may be some people who are unable to wear a mask due to breathing problems or other health issues.  While charity requires us to think of the good of others in a critical time like this, no one should be shamed or admonished for making the best decisions they can in good conscience.

Despite the ongoing challenges of this life, we know that Jesus, the True Light, has come into this world, the shadows are only temporary, and that is something to rejoice in this Christmas season.

Fr. Matt

Dear Parishioners,

What a strange and challenging year it has been!  Even though I have been here for nearly a year, I am still meeting parishioners every week as they come back to Mass in person and life in the parish has never quite been normal.  Fortunately, as the pandemic situation has improved so dramatically, with cases dropping and the population getting vaccinated, it is time to take some steps toward normality in our parish life and you will notice that some of our typical practices at Mass will return this weekend.

As we all know, the CDC took a significant step this week in changing its recommendations for those who are fully vaccinated.  This is certainly good news and a harbinger of more positive changes ahead.  For now, we are still requiring those who are in attendance at Mass to wear a mask or face covering.  Mask mandates are still in place in the towns of Exeter and Newmarket and diocesan guidelines are still requiring the use of masks at Mass.  This is the guidance we have received from Bishop Libasci and the Diocese of Manchester:

You may have seen that the CDC updated its COVID-19 guidance, indicating that individuals who are fully vaccinated may participate in indoor and outdoor gatherings without a mask or social distancing. This only provides updated information for individuals; the CDC guidance for settings such as churches has not yet changed and when there is a gathering such as a Mass, masks are still to be worn according to Diocesan guidance. It has been a difficult time, and we all long for this pandemic to be over. Thanks to your support and the selfless actions of so many who have helped to keep our parishes healthy, safe, and clean, we are moving forward to the day that is coming when we can all gather together without restrictions.

We will also still be roping off many pews and asking people to socially distance as much as possible at Mass.  However, beginning next weekend, a few of the ropes will be removed in the middle of the church.  We encourage those who do not need to socially distance to sit in these rows, so that there is plenty of room for everyone to attend Mass and so that those who need to socially distance can still do so.

Thank you for your continued patience as we continue to protect the most vulnerable among us and especially over these next weeks in which many people who have been waiting to get fully vaccinated will be able to do so.

Praying for you all,
Fr. Matt

"Loving God, Holy One, Your desire is for our wholeness and well-being.
We hold in tenderness and prayer the collective suffering of our world at this time. We grieve precious lives lost and vulnerable lives threatened. We ache for ourselves and our neighbors, standing before an uncertain future. We pray: May love, not fear, go viral. Inspire our leaders to discern and choose wisely, aligned with the common good. Help us to practice social distancing and reveal to us new and creative ways to come together in spirit and in solidarity.
Call us to profound trust in your faithful presence, You, the God who does not abandon, You, the Holy One, breathing within us, breathing among us, breathing around us in our beautiful yet wounded world." 

- Sisters of IHM, Scranton, Pennsylvania

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages.  We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability- and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you.  Your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955)