Dear People of God at St. Paul’s by-the-Lake,

Last week’s plan to have “overflow seating” in Banner Hall for the 10:30 Sunday Mass seems to have worked sufficiently well. We will continue this procedure as long as we are limited to a maximum of 25 people per gathering. As a reminder, here is what this looks like:

The Mass will be live-streamed to a TV in Banner Hall, and a Licensed Eucharistic Minister will be present to administer communion from the Reserved Sacrament.
We especially invite families with children to worship from Banner Hall, as this will allow easy access to Church School, held in the library. Any children worshipping in the Nave will not be permitted to attend Church School.
Likewise, once we have reached our 25-person limit in the Nave, the ushers will direct all others to Banner Hall.
Entrance into Banner Hall will be through the door from the parking lot. This allows us to keep the two “gatherings” of people separate. Those directed to Banner Hall from the Narthex may not pass through the Nave, but must go outside and walk around the building to the parking lot door.

Even with this plan in place, however, we will not be able to accommodate more than 25 in each location (50 total) at 10:30. For this reason, I am asking that any regular 10:30 attendees would seriously consider coming to Mass either at 8:00 on Sunday, or at one of our weekday Masses, if you are able to do so. Under the circumstances, this is sufficient to fulfill your Sunday obligation. Moreover, it would prevent us from having to turn anyone away from Mass, especially visitors, families with children in Church School, and others who are unable to attend at other times.

Thank you again for your steadfastness and flexibility during these difficult times.

Faithfully,

Fr. Kemp+