Dear Friends,

I hope you and your families are well and persevering through the social isolation, which has become our new normal for the foreseeable future. Every day in my prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist, I commend you to the Lord, asking Him to sustain you and give you every grace you need during these difficult times.

Unfortunately, I am writing to you today from voluntary isolation. This past week, Msgr. Joe Curry, the former pastor of our parish who has been living with us for several months now, developed symptoms of COVID-19 and was hospitalized overnight for observations. He was discharged the following morning. However, he tested positive for the virus and is currently recovering in quarantine away from the rectory. I speak with Msgr. Curry daily. His recovery is slow but he sounds stronger every day. Please remember him in your prayers.

In the meantime, I asked Fr. Jason to stay in the apartment at the Catholic Center for now, both for his own health and so that at least one of us is capable of presiding over the Liturgies of Holy Week and serving the parish. Fr. Dario and I have both been exposed to the virus. I'm awaiting the results of my COVID test. We both feel fine and have no symptoms, thanks be to God. However, prudence asks us, out of an abundance of caution, to isolate ourselves for the time being. If my test results come back negative, and with my doctor's permission, I hope to celebrate at least one of the live-streamed Liturgies of the Triduum. Pray that this will in fact be the case.

I am grateful that so many of you have remembered to provide financial support to the parish these past weeks. We've entered a time of financial crisis for us and every parish in our Diocese, State, and throughout the country where the public celebration of Mass and other public gatherings have been suspended to protect our communities from COVID. I'll inform you of what steps we are taking to ensure the essential operations of the parish continue in another correspondence. But for now, know that I am grateful for your efforts to provide us with support through online giving, Venmo, and by mailing in your envelopes every week.

Click here for the schedule for the live-streamed Liturgies of Holy Week. Please join our virtual community live on the St. Peter's Facebook Page at the times noted. The live-streams will be available for viewing and prayer on our website immediately following broadcasts. Remember to treat the live-streams as if you were in church and make a spiritual act of communion.

I've also included a link to our Holy Father's message to the Church as we prepare to enter a Holy Week unlike any we have known before. I hope you take his words to heart. We are all called into the mystery of the Lord's cross and resurrection. But now, perhaps more than before, we are united in a common cross, especially the sick, the dying, the bereaved, the homeless on our streets who have no protection, the elderly who are isolated and fearful in their homes and care facilities. Yet the cross reminds us that sufferings of the present time does not have the final word to speak. God does. He is with us and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we are pledged to His victory of life over death and joy over sorrows.
Lastly, let me end with a word of thanks to our health care professionals. I know many of you are nurses, doctors, and other medical specialists who are stretching in ways we can only imagine to serve the sick and dying during these times. The picture below comes from the walkway entering St. Peter University Hospital. Someone was kind enough to express their appreciation for all that our health-care workers are doing for our community. I though I'd share it with you as a way of saying to the health-care professionals in our parish that you are remembered and honored by a grateful parish and city. Ora pro invicem Let us pray for one another.

Msgr. Joseph G. Celano
Pastor