June 18, 2021 Update - COVID Restrictions: 
   Following the announcement made by the governor on Tuesday and the most recent guidance from the diocese this week, we wanted to make you aware of the following changes for Mass and for our ministries.

Changes pertaining to Masses and liturgical ministries:

• The bishop's letter indicated that "It is recommended that some 'social distancing' seating should still be offered, as needed." Following that suggestion, we have marked off a small section at the back of the front two quadrants at St. Mary's Church. This allows those parishioners and visitors that still feel more comfortable distancing from others two pews on each side of the church to do so. At St. Bridget's, part of the left side of church will still be designated as a "distancing section".
• Eucharistic Ministers at Masses are still being asked to wear masks during Communion so that all will feel comfortable coming forward for the sacrament.
• Some liturgical ministries are in the process of restarting. Now that we were given the ok, we will be looking for ushers to begin again within the next few weeks (those interested in helping should watch for Flocknote and bulletin updates) and altar servers will likely begin to serve at Masses again near the end of summer/beginning of fall.

• We are waiting for more guidance for other ministries before they can restart, particularly visitation ministry. Those interested in helping with that ministry can still reach out to Teresa at Teresa.Dunn@dor.org to indicate their interest, but we need to gather additional information from the the state, diocese, and the local facilities before we can set a start date for distributing Communion at local health care and nursing facilities.
• Ministries meeting on our campus: Ministries and groups will be permitted to meet in Dougherty Hall and St. Bridget's Church Hall*, with the following provisions:
  • Only St. Benedict Parish’s ministries and groups will be permitted; no outside groups can yet meet on our campuses.
  • The ministry or group must have prior approval to meet in Dougherty Hall or St. Bridget's Church Hall*. Please email Amy.Corron@dor.org to inquire about reservations.
  • Through the end of the school year, the school may reserve Dougherty Hall during the school day as an extension of the school for class purposes. The use of Dougherty Hall by the school for instructional purposes takes precedence over meetings of ministries and groups.
  • Ministries meeting on our campus (Dougherty Hall and St. Bridget's Church Hall) are no longer limited to 30 participants, nor are they required to fill out the COVID certification forms or take attendance for tracing purposes. However, according to the most recent letter from the bishop, which quotes the State's guidelines: “Unvaccinated individuals continue to be responsible for wearing masks, in accordance with federal CDC guidance. Consistent with the State’s implementation of the recent CDC guidance, masks are still required for unvaccinated individuals.” We therefore ask that those individuals continue to wear a mask during the meetings.

*St. Bridget's Church Hall cannot be reserved until July to give the Blessing Room time to reorganize. We have designated the weekend of July 26th and 27th as a "cleaning and maintenance weekend", focusing on the Blessing Room in particular. This weekend's bulletin includes the following information for those that wish to help: "The Blessing Room at St. Bridget's is seeking volunteers who would donate four hours of time to help clean, sort, organize, and store cases of food on Saturday, June 26th and for four hours on Sunday, June 27th. On Saturday, volunteers have the option of helping for four hours in the morning or four hours in the afternoon. On Sunday, volunteers would work for four hours in the afternoon. Anyone interested in helping with this worthwhile endeavor should contact Barb Blazek at (717) 514-2845. A Volunteer Waiver form [found at https://stbenedictonline.org/volunteer-waiver-and-opportunities] must be completed ahead of time by those participating in this event."

Resources related to the flu and coronavirus

• Letter to the Faithful - June 6, 2020
• Coronavirus update for Masses with 10 people - May 21, 2020
• Readings for Mass in Time of Pandemic
• Governor Cuomo's Travel Ban, effective 3/22/2020
• Bishop Matano's Letter to the Faithful, 3/17/2020
• DOR's COVID-19 Resource webpage
• Diocese of Rochester's Memorandum: Precautions concerning COVID-19, the Coronavirus Disease, at Holy Mass and other gatherings, 3/16/2020
• Ontario County Health Facilities Protocols (for visitation and Eucharistic Ministers), UPDATED 3/13/2020
• COVID-19 Fact Sheet
• What to do if you are sick with the coronavirus
• "Dioceses take steps to prevent virus from spreading" - Catholic Courier  article