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message from our pastor
Dear Notre Dame Parish Family,
During the COVID-19 pandemic, life has changed for all of us. We are all experiencing the effects of restrictions, shortages, and the danger of becoming infected with the virus. As you are aware, the Archbishop has temporarily cancelled weekend Masses at all parishes, and as of March 20th that includes all daily Masses as well. The church will not be open to the public for any Mass until further notice. However, Fr. Rafal and I will celebrate a private Mass daily for the intention of our parish.
This past Sunday, we were able to livestream Mass on Facebook for the first time and the response from many of you was great. Though the church may have been empty, your presence and prayers were certainly felt. I am happy to announce that we now have the ability to livestream Mass directly to our parish website. Each Sunday we will livestream a bilingual Mass at 9:00am. You can easily watch from our parish homepage or if you prefer the "ND Youth & Family Ministry" facebook page as well. If you cannot watch with us live at 9:00am, the video will remain available in both locations. We are doing our best to improve the quality of these livestream Masses. If you think you can offer any technical assistance in this area, please contact Wyatt Wentrcek in the Parish Office.
While we understand that the action of suspending all Sunday liturgies and parish events is for our protection and for the common good, it also puts a tremendous strain on our budget. With no weekend Masses comes no weekend offertory, which means we are left needing your help.
There are a couple of things we can do. One is that your weekly offering can be made online at https://notredamechurch.cc/online-giving. This is a simple and secure way to make a one-time gift or setup recurring payments. If you need help, contact the Notre Dame office. Secondly, you can always personally visit the office to drop off your offering, or you can put it in the mail slot in the door to the office that faces Kemper Hall.
In these trying times we are doing our best to comply with the requests of both Church and civil authorities to do whatever we can to stop or at least slow the spread of the virus. I appreciate your help in maintaining Notre Dame parish until this pandemic passes.
God Bless you!
Fr. David
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Archbishop GUstavo Extends decree regarding COvid-19 to the beginning of may (updated 4/1)
My dear people, I had stated that my previous decree would be reviewed on March 31, and that it remains in effect until revoked. I am hereby informing all concerned that the decree now remains in effect until at least April 30, 2020.
Please be assured that I am following the advice of the federal, state and local civic authorities - as well as health officials - in making this decree and guidelines. This decree is to be implemented throughout the 19 county area of the archdiocese. If in any county there are stricter regulations regarding the limit of the number of people gathered, then the stricter rules will apply there.
The precautions regarding social distancing (at least six feet between persons) and the limits on crowd size (no more than 10 persons) remain in effect f0r all liturgies. Public celebration of Masses is suspended, and priests are strongly encouraged to livestream, or use other media, to reach out to the faithful.
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Notre dame information (newly UPDATED as of 3/20, 10:57Am)
All Masses have been suspended to the public until further notice. This now includes daily Mass.
- Please see the full decree below from Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller.
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LIVE STREAM of bilingual Mass celebrated by Fr. David and Fr. Rafal will be available on Sundays at 9:00am. We thank everyone who joined us on Facebook Live this past Sunday. Your presence and prayers were definitely felt. Let us be thankful for the technology that allows us to do bring the Mass to God's people during this current situation. We are currently working on improvements to the audio quality as well as making it more accessible for our parishioners in the weeks to come. Please stay tuned for more details regarding this week's live stream.
- Daily Masses will be celebrated without the congregation. However, our priests will celebrate Mass each day for the intention of our parish.
- The Sacrament of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick are available only by appointment. Please call the Parish Office.
- Eucharistic Adoration will proceed as normal and the church doors will be unlocked during daytime hours for personal prayer. Visitors are asked to spread out and practice "social distancing" during this time.
- All other parish ministries and events are cancelled or postponed until further notice. This includes but is not limited to the following:
- Stations of the Cross and Friday Lenten dinners
- Hour of Mercy
- Children's Faith Formation, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, EDGE, LIFE TEEN, Catholic Way Bible Study, That Man is You
- Women of Hope Retreat
- All parish retreats
- During this time which we are not taking an offertory collection, we highly recommend submitting a contribution or establishing a recurring weekly gift through our online giving option. For more details please visit our Online Giving page. Contributions can also be dropped off at the parish office during business hours.
Our prayer is that we may all respond with charity and sensitivity for the common good. Please practice good hygiene following the recommendations of the CDC, stay at home if you feel sick or at risk, and increase your personal prayer at home with your families.
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ARCHBISHOP GUSTAVO ISSUES DECREE IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19
Please read Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller's full decree published on March 13, 2020 by clicking HERE
Effective the weekend of March 14-15, the Archdiocese of San Antonio has issued the following:
- The Sunday Mass obligation is hereby dispensed for all Catholics. Public weekend Mass at Notre Dame Catholic Church (and all parishes in the Archdiocese) is suspended through April 3. Daily Masses as well as Eucharistic Adoration in the chapel will continue.
- All non-essential gatherings for the rest of March are cancelled or postponed, pending further notice. This includes all faith formation, youth ministry, retreats, and parish ministry gatherings.
- We are advising against home visits at this time, but in situations of serious pastoral necessity these decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the pastor, responding to the best of their abilities to these requests.
- The faithful are encouraged to view and participate in the daily and Sunday Masses via CTSA, other television outlets or through archdiocesan electronic media. Other devotions, such as praying the daily rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet, are most appropriate at this time.
Accompanied by the Lord, who will sustain us through this tribulation - and through the hard work of our dedicated health professionals - we will make it through these trying times that may come over the following weeks and months. May all of these efforts help us to slow the spread of COVID-19.
During this most difficult time we ask you to think of what you can do for others, and invite you to pray:Our Lady of Guadalupe, in these times of tribulation we turn to you O Mother.
See with compassion the suffering of your beloved daughters and sons
affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic throughout the entire world.
Ask your Son to have mercy on us bringing healing to those infected and protection to all your children.
Jesus, Christ, savior of all people, grant us courage to accompany and pray
for the entire world in the wake of sorrow and uncertainty.
We seek refuge in you and according to your promise, deliver us from this danger.
Amen.
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