Due to the current health situation, Sunday Masses are cancelled today. The church however remains open for visits to the Blessed Sacrament, which will be exposed until 1:00 pm. Weekday masses however will continue as usual.
After much discernment regarding the health and safety of the faithful of the Archdiocese, Archbishop Prendergast has decided to cancel all the Sunday Masses for March 15 in the Archdiocese of Ottawa and Alexandria-Cornwall. What this means is that you are all dispensed from your Sunday obligation and asked to remain at home for the common good. However, weekday Masses may continue as usual (for the time being), since the gatherings are normally much smaller. More details will be forthcoming from the Chancery and our website will be updated. Please share this message with your contacts.
To keep this in perspective, a similar situation happened with the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918. For example, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri the city Health Commissioner shut down the city. This included schools, theatres, places of amusement and churches, anywhere where large crowds gathered. That earned him the ire of Archbishop John Glennon, who protested that decision; however, he soon complied and temporarily suspended the weekly Mass obligation for all Catholics. Busy downtown department stores operated under restricted hours, and public transportation was restricted as well. All of these actions resulted in St. Louis experiencing one of the lowest influenza rates of cities compared to its size. Of the 31,500 who got sick in St. Louis only 1,703 died. By contrast the city of Philadelphia, which went ahead with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in support of the war effort — ignoring warnings — had one of the biggest death tolls of the Spanish flu, with over 16,000 deaths and 500,000 people sick.
The Archbishop’s decision was not made lightly. He is truly concerned for us. He very much enjoyed his recent visit to our parish, where he Confirmed 44 souls with a beautiful Pontifical Mass. As we continue our Lenten observances, it is an additional cross for us to be sure. As your pastor, I ask you to please accept it in a spirit of penance. At the same time, I would remind you all of the importance of sanctifying the Sunday through family prayer, the Rosary, and reading the Sunday readings from your missal at home, followed by an act of Spiritual Communion. Prayers for Spiritual Communion can be found on another post on our website. I also have some daily prayers for protection posted on the website, invoking the Precious Blood of Jesus. Meanwhile your priests will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today (but in private), for your intentions. Also, the church will be open today for visits to the Blessed Sacrament, from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Let us pray that this extraordinary situation be short-lived, so that we can gather together as a community once more very soon.
Information on the approach of the city officials of St. Louis Missouri during the influenza crisis can be found here: