*If you're unable to print a ticket or pull it up on your phone, please email Tori at vwesley@stelizabethchurchmd.org to put your name in or call the parish office 301.881.1380 from 9 am to noon Wednesday-Friday.

For more information about reopening procedures, see the following videos:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf49ji7WGyE Part 1

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmmZx1OrfyU Part 2

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rb1CtLOQe4 Part 3 (Communion)

Welcome Back!!!

By Msgr. Bill Parent

Last Easter fell early in our COVID lockdown and as a result, was pretty awful. Churches are not supposed to be empty on Easter Sunday.

Though our attendance is still limited by social distancing, I look forward to seeing lots of faces in church again this Easter!

Increasing Sunday Attendance

As vaccinations have been increasing, our attendance has been slowly increasing every Sunday for the past few weeks. Palm Sunday was our highest Sunday attendance since we reopened last summer. 

Though some of you understandably are not yet ready to return to in-person worship, please know that we miss you, pray for you, and look forward to that happy day when you return.

Where did our pews go?

If you plan to come back for the first time soon, please be prepared for a church without pews or kneelers.

As was announced at all of our Masses on Palm Sunday, all of our pews will be removed on Monday, April 5, in order to be refinished. They’ll be gone for about two months.

For the duration of the refinishing process, we’ll have folding chairs in church. I ask for everyone’s patience and flexibility during these awkward two months.

As discussed and endorsed by our Parish Pastoral Council, we invite everybody to stand during those parts of the Mass we customarily kneel. Kneeling is hard enough without kneelers and even more so given the incline of our floor.

The front row of chairs in the Commons and in our church will be reserved for anyone who would prefer kneeling during Mass during this awkward time.

Communion during Mass Again

Since reopening for Mass last summer, we have distributed communion to the congregation immediately following the Mass. This procedure simplified maintaining social distancing while exiting the church.

As was also discussed and endorsed by our Parish Pastoral Council, we will resume communion for the congregation during Mass on Monday, April 5. This is another happy sign that pre-COVID 

routines are slowly returning.

Thank You!

Thanks to so many of you who have been extraordinarily generous to our parish family during this extraordinarily difficult past year.

Thanks to you we have maintained or increased our support for the poor, we have kept our school open, and we have resumed our public worship in a manner that is reverent and safe.

I continue to feel humbled and honored to be the pastor of such a generous parish. On behalf of Fr. Stefan and our entire parish staff, I wish you a very happy and holy Easter!