Letter to the Parish 2020-03-18

Dear Parishioners of St Robert Bellarmine Parish,
Lent is a time of sacrifice as we prepare, as a family of faith, to enter into the mystery of our
faith: the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. We are accustomed to “give things up” for
Lent. Never would I have imagined that part of our Lenten sacrifice would be to forego
communal Mass, but that is where we are.
The decision by the Archbishop to suspend Mass until and including April 5 (Palm Sunday), was
not a decision easily made. It was made for the good of the people in the hopes of curbing the
spread of the coronavirus. Though we cannot gather together for prayer, we can and we must
be praying on our own for each other, for those already infected by the virus, and for the safety
of all others.
Please know I am here as we walk this new dimension of Lent together. Should anyone become
ill with anything, please let me know so I can offer the Sacrament of the Sick for you. Should
anyone be hospitalized and a priest is needed, please let the nurses know that you want a
priest to visit; otherwise, I don’t think I will be able to enter the hospital.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will still be available with the exception of confessing face-toface.
I had scheduled a communal Penance Service for March 30 at 6:30pm. I will be available
for confession but there will be no service, nor will the other priests be present.
These are indeed trying times. We will get through this by being vigilant in terms of following
the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and through prayer. Prayer unites us
in the Heart of Christ. We may be physically separated but we are most certainly united in
Jesus Christ. As St Paul said: “What can separate us from the Love of Christ? Will anguish or
distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or the sword?” (Romans 8.35).
God bless each and everyone of you. Let us all pray for each other.
Fr Sofie