Parish Coronavirus Updates

Although we cannot create a completely sterile environment, we continue to be hard at work preparing our facilities in order to keep all who come as safe as possible. Our preparations include, among other things, the following steps:

A complete deep cleaning and sanitizing of our church, including the use of an EPA approved sanitizer for killing the Covid-19 virus (surfaces within the church will also be sprayed with sanitizer between all Masses);
Adjustments to our ventilation to maximize the use of fresh outside air;
Modifying seating for the maximized use of our church to enable distancing between families;
Proper training of individuals to be at each Mass assisting and directing parishioners and visitors;
The acquisition of face masks to be distributed to those who do not have their own, as well as alcohol based hand sanitizer to be applied to visitors as you enter the the church, and available for use during and after Mass;
Restricting access to our facilities outside of the public Mass times in order to reduce contamination.

If you have any questions, you may contact our Parish Office at 317-867-3213.

DAILY MASS LIVE STREAM

Every day, you can pray Mass along with us by visiting our Facebook page where we are live streaming Mass each day from our Holy Spirit Daily Chapel. See below for our Mass schedule, which follows our regular weekend schedule and a slightly modified weekday schedule. If you are not able to join at these times, recordings of these Masses will be posted on our Facebook feed, or can be found on our website by Clicking Here. Thank you for continuing to pray with us during these times!

LORD'S DAY MASS SCHEDULE:
Saturday: 4:30pm
Sunday: 8:00am, 10:00am, and 5:30pm

WEEKDAY MASS SCHEDULE:
Monday: 5:30pm
Tuesday: 8:00am, 5:30pm
Wednesday: 8:00am, 5:30pm
Thursday: 5:30pm
Friday: 8:00am
Saturday: 8:00am

PARISH ROSARY (INCLUDING NEW TIME)

We continue to ask all parishioners to pray the Rosary daily during this time. We invite you to join us daily at 7:30am for our regular daily Rosary. Additionally, beginning THIS FRIDAY, we will be praying a Family Rosary every Friday at 3:00pm. Instructions on how to join are included in the graphic below.

If these times don't work with your schedule, we encourage you to sign up here where you can join our distribution list and receive a recording of the daily Rosary that you can pray along with at a time more convenient to you.

FREE ONLINE CATHOLIC RESOURCES

There are a number of wonderful, free online resources that we encourage all to use during this time at home. For recommended online resources, click here or visit our parish website.

PARISH OFFICES CLOSED TO PUBLIC

In response to Governor Holcomb's executive order, and to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Parish Offices will be closed to the public. Limited parish staff members will continue to work in the parish office, and can be reached by phone or email, should you have any questions or needs at this time. If you have deliveries to make to the parish office, you can leave your deliveries in a drop box placed by the exterior door, or send by mail. Thank you!

For access to our electronic bulletins, click here.

ALL PUBLIC MASSES HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED

Our Parish has received new directives from Bishop Doherty. Per these directives, effective tomorrow, Wednesday March 18th, all public Masses will been suspended until further notice. Our parish staff and clergy are working diligently so that daily Mass can be recorded and watched online by all parishioners. We will provide an update with further directions on how you can participate once this has been arranged.

In the meantime, we encourage you to participate in Mass from home via other available sources. One such source is through Bishop Barron's Word on Fire. Click Here to watch their recorded daily Mass. When watching Mass from home, we encourage you to pray the following prayer for spiritual communion during the time in the Mass when you would normally be receiving the Eucharist:

"My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen."

During this difficult time, we also humbly ask that you continue to support our parish community through your financial gifts to the extent you are able. Help us stay strong in our ability to build God's Kingdom by mailing your gifts to 17102 Spring Mill Rd, Westfield, IN 46074, or by setting up a recurring online gift by clicking here. Thank you for your continued generosity during this difficult time.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION & CONFESSIONS SUSPENDED

Also effective tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18th, Eucharistic Adoration will be suspended. However, it remains our goal as a Parish to move to Perpetual Adoration as soon as we can. We ask all to use this time as a time of discernment about when you can make a weekly Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament. If you have questions about signing up for adoration (which will begin at a later date), please email adoration@smgonline.org.

ADDITIONAL CANCELLATIONS

At this time, the following have been suspended until further notice:

All regularly schedule confession times.
Stations of the Cross services.
All other parish events or meetings.

OUTREACH EFFORTS

Please note that our Shepherd's Gate Food Pantry remains open and is actively serving the needs of our community. Our Food Pantry has made changes to their procedures to protect both our volunteers and those we serve. As part of these procedural changes, no food donations will be collected at this time.

If you or your family are experiencing financial hardship at this time, please let us know how we can help. Contact Fr. Kevin through our parish office if this is your situation. Additionally, if you struggling to get by out of fear of leaving your home and do not have family or friends who can assist you, or know of someone else in this situation, please let us know, as we are eager to assist in any way that we are able. You can call the Parish Office at (317) 867-3213.

DAILY ROSARY CORRECTION

Please note that we will continue to pray the daily Rosary at 7:30am. Please pray with us every day via by phone or internet for the containment and cure of COVID-19, for those inflicted by the disease, and for all medical professionals. We encourage ALL to join us in this powerful prayer either live each morning or by replay. If you'd like Click Here to sign up to pray OR pray by phone. To pray by phone, just before 7:30am, call (646) 558-8656, wait for the prompt and enter meeting 597-211-932 #. Then just wait on-hold until the Rosary starts (your mic is already muted).

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION LOCATION CHANGE

Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, March 16th, Eucharistic Adoration will be moved to the Holy Spirit Daily Chapel. This move will allow more space for more adorers to come and pray before the Blessed Sacrament during this time. The Adoration Parking and entrance near the Bell Tower should still be used.

If you are not a current adorer, but would like to sign up, please email adoration@smgonline.org. Thank you!

PENANCE SERVICE CANCELLATION

We regret to inform you that all remaining Lenten Penance Services within our Diocese have been cancelled.

DAILY ROSARY (BY PHONE OR INTERNET)

Please pray the Rosary with us every day via by phone or internet for the containment and cure of COVID-19, for those inflicted by the disease, and for all medical professionals. We encourage ALL to join us in this powerful prayer either live at 7:00am each morning or by replay. If you'd like Click Here to sign up to pray.

After signing up, you'll have the option of either calling in to hear the audio of the Rosary being prayed, or watch a livestream via the internet.

A LETTER FROM FR. KEVIN

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

These are unprecedented times! There has been so much that's changed in the last three or four days even, as everyone responds to the Coronavirus crisis, and as we all work together to keep all of us as safe as possible through these next few weeks and months.

I would ask that ALL of us, as a true Faith Family, remember our Faith and the promises that we have in Jesus Christ! Jesus has us covered even during pandemics! Our job is to trust, to be smart, to use the gifts that God has given us, and to take care of one another through it all. And we can do this! This is an extraordinary community and what we can do when we trust God knows no limits!

Let us remember this as we observe the new guidelines and the new ways that we are being asked to do things, to help keep everyone safe and protected. But we must pray! All of us! Prayer and the call of the Lord to turn to Him in our need is absolutely an essential part of all of this. Pray the Rosary. Go to Adoration. Read your Bible. Talk to God, and beg for His help and mercy and healing! May God show all of us and our world just what prayer can do!

We place ourselves and our world under the Protection of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, and all the Saints, most especially our Patroness, St. Maria Goretti!

Know that you have all of my prayers! And all of my love!

Fr. Kevin J. Haines, Pastor
St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church
Westfield, Indiana

CORONAVIRUS MASS GUIDELINES

As a result of Governor Holcomb’s announcement from March 12 that non-essential gatherings must be limited to no more than 250 people, Bishop Doherty is dispensing from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for the last three weekends of March (March 15, 22, and 29) but regularly scheduled public Masses will go on. In particular, anyone who is sick or experiencing symptoms of sickness are urged NOT to come to Mass. Persons who choose to stay home can still make the Lord’s day holy by prayerfully reading and discussing together the Scriptures for Mass and making a Spiritual Communion together. Additionally, Bishop Doherty will be celebrating 8:00 a.m. (Eastern) Mass at Church of the Blessed Sacrament for the next 3 Sundays (March 15, March 22, March 29) which will be livestreamed here and would love the presence of those unable to attend their parish Mass.

A number of modifications are being made during Mass as precautionary measures. These modifications include:

We will not pass collection baskets but will instead have baskets centrally located in which individuals can place their offertory as instructed during Mass. If you have not already done so, please consider enrolling in electronic giving by clicking here.
The Consecrated Host can only be received on the hand, and not directly on the tongue at this time.
We will be suspending the exchange of the sign of peace.
We ask you not to hold hands during the Lord’s prayer.
We will discontinue the use of holy water fonts.
We urge all to consider spreading out during Mass and make use of our large church!

PARISH EVENT CANCELLATIONS

Effective Monday, March 16 and until April 6th, all parish events have been cancelled with the exception of those listed immediately below. As this situation evolves, we will keep you updated.

As discussed above, all Masses will continue as planned.
The Lenten Penance Service, scheduled for Thursday, March 19th at 7pm will continue as planned.
Regular Saturday Confession times will remain unchanged.
Lenten Stations of the Cross will continue as planned.
Eucharistic Adoration will continue, as will our push to move to Perpetual Adoration by April 19, 2020, Divine Mercy Sunday.
Our Parish will continue to pray the Rosary every day via webstream for the containment and cure of COVID-19, for those inflicted by the disease, and for all medical professionals. We encourage ALL to join us in this powerful prayer either live at 7:00am each morning or by replay. Click Here to sign up to pray.

St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church | Westfield, IN

Please support the work and mission of our parish by contributing electronically. Click here to sign up!

MAY 19, 2020 UPDATE

A MESSAGE FROM FR. KEVIN

MASS REOPENING INFORMATION

MAY 11, 2020 UPDATE

MASS REOPENING GUIDELINES

MARCH 24, 2020 UPDATE