Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday weekend, March 27 /28
Holy Week and Easter will look different than it usually does – but better than it looked last year when the world was in total lockdown, and our churches were empty.
Based on the most recent update from the State of Connecticut, and Diocesan regulations, we will be able to increase the seating in our church, beginning Palm Sunday weekend. We will add at least 50 additional spaces. In the coming months, as more and more people are vaccinated, we believe we will be able to add more seating. We encourage everyone to be vaccinated as soon as you are able.
We anticipate everyone being required to wear masks, maintain appropriate distancing, and intense cleaning. This will probably continue, until sometime this Summer.
We hope that many of you will plan to join us for the Holy Tridium which begins on Holy Thursday night, April 1st.
We will conduct our Holy Thursday Mass at 7:30pm, and our Good Friday Service at 3pm (again these will both look slightly different than usual). The Church will remain open until 10pm on Holy Thursday night, for private adoration. Our Easter Vigil begins at 7:30 pm. We have reduced the number of readings so this mass will not be unduly long. At this time, we are still precluded from conducting collections, so we are grateful to our parishioners who have mailed in their donations or left them in our collection boxes in the vestibule of the church. I know a number of you have signed up for our on-line giving program Faith Direct. I am very grateful for that.
You will be required to reserve a seat for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. You will be able to reserve your seat for any or all of these Masses beginning Monday, March 29. All the priests of Stamford (including Fr. Grosso) will be hearing confessions on Monday March 29, from 3pm until 9pm at St Cecila Church, Holy Spirit Church, and Sacred Heart Church. Bishop Caggiano will eventually lift the dispensation from attending Mass. We don’t know exactly when that will be, but we believe it is not too far in the future.
In the coming weeks, as more and more of you are vaccinated, we look forward to seeing more and more of you in Church. Our on-line Masses will continue through Lent. We will provide a link to Bishop Caggiano’s masses for Palm Sunday and Easter. We anticipate concluding the online masses, from St. Leo Church, sometime in April. Please continue to refer to our Parish Web page, and the on-line version of our bulletin (also found on or web page) for any updates and information.
In Christ’s Love,
Fr. Grosso