May 17, 2020 – Fifth Sunday of Easter
Dear Parishioners:
There is great news about the reopening of churches in the Archdiocese of Newark! Next week we will begin opening our Parish church for quiet prayer a few days a week for a few hours. There will be guidelines as far as people being able to visit the church and this issue of the bulletin has an outline that the Archdiocese has given us (“What to Expect When Mass Resumes”). As you will see, there will be a three-phase approach to opening the churches. The first starts next week, as I mentioned above, and then it will progress to Phase 2 and Phase 3 accordingly. The outline from the Archdiocese also gives everyone a heads up on what to expect when they return to the church. Please read the included page titled “Phase One.”
Some important details to notice are that visitors will need to wear face coverings or masks, must be at least 6 feet away from each other at all times (according to pew and church indicators), visitors can only sit in designated areas at certain times and I ask everyone to bring your own hand sanitizers. I will have the Blessed Sacrament exposed during this time of prayer. I will also make the Sacrament of Reconciliation available next week, probably Saturday afternoon. (concerning this, please read point 11 in the “Phase One page.”)
There is other news in the Archdiocese is that unfortunately sad. Ten Archdiocesan Catholic schools have closed. That notification from the Cardinal is included in this bulletin as well. We are not one of the schools closing. As a matter of fact, St. Cassian School remains very, very healthy, even with a waiting list. I only mention the other schools so that you all are aware of news around the Archdiocese.
Some other immediate news that affects our Parish that is good is that we have been approved for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and have in fact already received the assistance check that will be used solely for payroll. This is very helpful in maintaining the vitality of our Parish during these difficult times, at least for a two-month period. At the same time, I am very, very grateful to all of you who have maintained your financial support during this tough time. Using Faith Direct and mailing your weekly envelopes directly to the Parish office have been extremely helpful and I am grateful.
While we are certainly all excited about the reopening of our Church and the celebration of the sacraments, again, I ask you to please make sure that you are patient and follow the guidelines that our Parish and the Archdiocese set for it. Again, I am going to ask everyone to bring their own face coverings/masks, hand sanitizers (gloves is you choose to wear them) and follow the markings in the church. It would be impossible and unsafe for me to provide all of these for all of the visitors, so please bring your own.
While there will be many demands on those who return to church, I would ask that those who are vulnerable either because of health or because of age to please remain at home if there is even the slightest risk to your health. Parishioners are also asked to take their temperature before they come to church to make sure there is no fever.
We will continue the Sunday Mass live streams so there is no need for people who are susceptible to infection to risk their health in coming back. You can continue to watch our Mass on Facebook or YouTube or any other Mass, as it counts for your Sunday obligation.
I will keep you all informed as we move forward, but in the meantime, let’s all continue to pray for a safe and speedy end to this crisis. And let’s continue to pray for one another.
Many blessings,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
May 10, 2020 – Fifth Sunday of Easter
Dear Parishioners:
We are one week closer to getting out of this crisis! With the nice weather and spring being in full bloom, it certainly is a time of hope and a time of looking forward to the good things coming soon for us.
I’m sorry if some of you were not able to watch the live stream of Mass last week on YouTube. In trying to perfect the sound for YouTube, we ran into some “technical difficulties.” I know that there were some glitches with Facebook, too. Hopefully, we get all of this worked out for Sunday and I ask that you please be patient as we are trying to get the live streams perfect.
As a parish, we do have much to look forward to, though. While at this time we have not yet been given a timeline for returning to church, clearly it is getting closer and closer. I would like to be fully prepared and ready to “hit the ground running” when we are able to resume having public Masses.
We have particular reason to celebrate in our Parish, as Mr. Roberto Demetillo, whom many of you have seen over the years as a lector and a server at the altar, will be ordained a Permanent Deacon soon at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark. We are very happy for soon-to-be Deacon Roberto and his wife and family. He has been in the diaconate program preparing for this upcoming day for over four years. After his ordination, Deacon Roberto will serve our Parish as a deacon by assisting the main celebrant at Mass, reading the Gospel and preaching, baptizing, and working faithfully for the parish. Please keep him in your prayers as he prepares for this wonderful day of ordination and his service to the Parish. Coincidently, the first reading for Mass on the 5th Sunday of Easter speaks of the call of the first Deacons in the Acts of the Apostles. Appropriately, Roberto who was called by the Lord to be a Deacon will be our lector for Mass and it is fitting, that he reads this particular reading during Mass.
Also, something to look forward to is the 125th Anniversary of our Parish! Remember in the months passed we have been reminding everyone that the celebration will begin on September 13th with a Solemn Mass in our church with Cardinal Joseph Tobin. I know in the midst of this crisis we probably haven’t given it much thought, however, I want to make sure that everyone keeps that date on your calendar so that we can robustly celebrate as a parish. Recall, we start our year-long celebration in September and will have a series of events to celebrate the history and life and growth of our Parish. I firmly believe that we will be out of that crisis by then and we will have a wonderful anniversary year.
So, dear Parishioners, I believe we are seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel.” I’m certain that the Archdiocese and the Cardinal, in particular, are working on ways that we can reopen our churches and our programs safely. I want to be fully prepared for this time, so I will keep you posted when I hear any news and I am certain that reopening will require masks, gloves and social distancing for all. I believe we will continue to live stream the Mass for a while, even after the church has been reopened as a way to provide the Mass for those who are at risk and vulnerable. We will obviously talk more about this in the future. All the while, I asked you to be patient as, the “new normal” will probably not be perfect, but it will begin to point us in the right direction.
I asked everyone to please continue to pray for our fellow parishioners, particularly all of the ill. Perhaps this could be a time of even deeper devotion to Mary, our Blessed Mother, whom we crowned last Sunday as our Queen and Mother, asking her to intercede on our behalf.
Lastly, I know many of you are eager to receive Holy Communion again. I invite you to view our Eucharistic Adoration on Wednesday evenings at 7:30, at least to see our Eucharistic Lord. Also, I recommend that you pray the Prayer of Spiritual Communion written by our own Cardinal Tobin which is included in this week’s bulletin. You can do this at the time of distribution of Holy Communion during the Mass, asking the Lord to give you the grace that you would have received in the Eucharist.
Again, please be assured of my prayers for all of you, especially the sick and the suffering, and please join with me in the hope of, not only the end of this crisis but of all the glorious things to come for our Parish.
Blessings to all,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
EASTER IV Message
Dear Parishioners
Again, I pray that you are all well and healthy. We are far from returning to normal, but I think we would all agree that we are getting closer to that point. While we cannot ignore those who are still sick and will become ill yet, we are grateful that the overall number of COVID-19-related infections and deaths are decreasing, pointing toward some “light at the end of the tunnel.” Hopefully, we are still being vigilant about our safety. And perhaps, just as important, patient!
My hope is that we are also using this time as an extended Lent, where we continue to work on the things that the Lord would like from us: prayer, deeper appreciation of the Sacraments and Scriptures. While we can think of ourselves as being in “the desert,” often symbolically representing a place of fasting and prayer, we can also think of it as a “spiritual training ground,” where we prepare for something that affects us long-term.
A good question to ask ourselves is: How will we be better when all this is over? What are we doing right now, during these “desert” days that will help us in the future? We don’t want to waste these days, as they can use helpful and useful in learning, growing and practicing our faith. Do we need to work on our patience, our charity, our kindness, our prayerfulness? Learning new recipes and foreign languages and catching up on Netflix programs are good and help us through this difficult period, but will they help us get closer to Heaven? I would ask all to consider this: if the crisis were to end today, would we all be in a better place spiritually? Let’s not let this time go to waste; instead, let’s be better because of it!
This Sunday, we will have Mass at 9:00 am as we have in the weeks past. At this Mass, we will have the beautiful traditional ceremony of the May Crowning. This is a traditional devotion of placing a crown of flowers on the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, recognizing her as the Queen of Heaven and earth and as our Queen and Mother. May, of course, is the perfect time to do it, as it is the month of Mary. This is also an appropriate time as we petition our Blessed Mother to rescue us from this pandemic and to intercede on our behalf and the world’s behalf. While we will be honoring her with the crowning on Sunday, May 3rd, on Friday, May 1st, the Bishops of the United States will be consecrating our nation to the maternal care of the Blessed Mother.
Also, included in this bulletin is a message from Cardinal Joseph Tobin, our Archbishop, who very pastorally writes why it is good and important that we turn to Mary during these difficult days. He gives us “Five Reasons We Turn to Mary During Times of Crisis.” I recommend that you prayerfully read it.
My dear Parishioners, I am optimistic that we will get out of this “pause” and that we will be able to join around the “table of the Lord,” our altar at St. Cassian Church, for Mass and the Sacraments and be in each other’s presence soon. We have Mary, all the angels and Saints, and each other praying for us to the Lord. With a team like that and with our own steadfastness in our spiritual training, we cannot lose.
Blessings,
Rev. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
Palm Sunday Bulletin Letter
Beloved Parishioners:
Greetings to all of you and I pray you are all well. And when I say “well,” I mean physically well, spiritually well and emotionally well. I know these days can be very trying, even very boring for many, but please make sure that you are taking care of yourselves and going through your regular routines as much as possible. It is important that we keep doing what we usually do as much as possible so that there is a semblance of normalcy during these tough times. I tell this to the seventh-grade class that I teach each day that they should get up take a shower, comb their hair and be ready for class so that things feel as normal as possible. I encourage everyone to stick with their regular routines.
Last Sunday at 9:00 am we were able to livestream the Mass to the Parish and beyond. I was thinking how when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, would he ever in his wildest dreams imagine that it would be used to visually broadcast a religious service to people watching at home? Yet, that is what we did last week and we are planning on livestreaming this Sunday again and beyond at 9:00 am. I do not want to plan too far ahead because things are changing, especially with directives from the Archdiocese, but I will keep you as up-to-date as possible with Masses and services, especially regarding the rest of Holy Week after Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday
Technically, you recall, we call it Passion Sunday because it is the week that we celebrate and remember the Passion, the suffering of Jesus Christ for our sins. We start the Mass with the simple Gospel of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowds. The Mass, of course, ends with Our Lord being crucified. We bless the Palms which are symbolic of the palms that the residents of Jerusalem laid on the ground as a way of celebrating Jesus in the city. Unfortunately, the blessed palms from this Sunday’s Mass will not be available for the Parish, as the Cardinal has asked that while we will bless them, we cannot distribute them until a later date, but make an earnest effort to virtually attend all of the Holy Week events. Below is the schedule as of now.
Service Times
- Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday) Mass: 9:00 AM
- Holy Thursday Mass 7:30 PM
- Good Friday Stations of the Cross Service: 7:30 PM
- Easter Sunday Mass: 9:00 AM
All these will be broadcast or livestreamed on both Facebook as well as YouTube which you can use the below URL. The addition of YouTube is just recent and I am glad to be able to provide this alternative to Facebook, as I know not everyone has it (me, included!).
The St.CassianOutreach2020 will continue to be making phone calls to parishioners to make sure that everyone is ok and also to see if anyone needs anything, i.e., groceries, prescriptions, etc. At the same time, while the Parish Office is closed to the public, we have continued to have a staff member to answer the phones, so if you need anything please call. You may also call if you have any prayer requests, particularly for the sick. I have been informed a those who are sick or family members who are not feeling well and I have included them in my daily Mass offerings. At the same time, please realize that if there are any emergencies, I can be reached at the emergency number: 201-704-7988. Emergencies only, please.
Many have mailed in their envelopes for their church offering and others have signed up to support the church during this time through Faith Direct. Thank you so much for your support for those who have continued their financial support. I understand that it might be hard for some, especially because of your loss or reduction in revenues. If you are able, please mail in your envelopes or even sign up for Faith Direct (www.faithdirect.net and use code NJ514). This will be very helpful to maintain the functioning of the Parish.
Lastly, please make sure that you are praying for one another, the sick, and the end of this crisis. The Pope is offering a plenary indulgence (yes, we still believe in them) to those who pray for an end to this crisis. You can find out more info by cutting and pasting the link below (“Indulgence”). Perhaps it is something you can read and do as a spiritual exercise during these quiet days. At the same time, since we are not all able to receive the Eucharist, perhaps you can make “Spiritual Communion” in the absence of the Eucharist, as it is the “desire” to receive the grace of the Eucharist as well as make an offering to the Lord. Read more about Spiritual Communion in this bulletin, as there is a two-page article on it.
In the meantime, be assured of my prayers for all of you, especially the sick and vulnerable, as well as for all our Country and our civic and Church leaders, that we will quickly recover from this difficult time.
Prayers and blessings,
