Last week, Bishop Mueggenborg sent this article around to some of the priests, and now I want to share it with you. The summary is that, with over 1,000,000 Masses celebrated in the United States since we began opening churches back up, not one Catholic church that has followed the guidelines has been the source of a COVID outbreak. https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2020/08/19/evidence-based_guidelines_to_celebrate_mass_safely_are_working.html
My friends, our procedures are working! By enforcing social distancing and masking, and by modifying our communion practices, we have kept people safe from this pandemic while also continuing to offer our worship to Almighty God!
This article has been a particular comfort to me this week as we begin to reopen our school to in-person instruction (pre-K to 6th grade). We have checked and rechecked our procedures against the best recommendations of federal, state, and scientific authorities; and I absolutely trust our principal, faculty, and staff, who have worked incredibly hard to make in-person instruction possible; but it is still scary to be one of only a handful of schools in Whatcom County, and only a handful of Catholic schools in the entire diocese, to be opening our doors to students. I believe what we are doing is the right thing to do for our students and families, and we have certainly done our best to keep everyone safe, but I am reminded this week that, even when we put in our own best efforts, we still always rely on God to take care of the rest.
Fr. Moore 