ATTENDING MASS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
UPDATE 9/2/2020
Sunday Mass at 8:00 am, 10:00 am, and noon, as well as our Daily Mass at noon on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are first come, first served. You do not need to sign-up to attend these Masses. Please wear your mask and expect to be seated by an usher in a specific pew. Our seating plans help us disinfect pews after each Mass.
Please enter through the main doors and exit through the doors near the Our Lady of the Eucharist statue to help us maintain a one-way traffic flow. Try to leave at least 6 feet of distance between households as you wait to come into the church and wait to be seated by our ushers. Please do not shake hands or hug those outside of your household.
We will collect an offertory at every Mass using a box near the door as you exit.
Holy Communion will be distributed at the conclusion of Mass to allow clergy and ministers to put on their masks and sanitize their hands. The Eucharist will be distributed in the species of bread and in the hand only.
Daily Mass on Wednesdays, the day dedicated to St. Joseph, as well as our Saturday evening anticipatory Mass will remain an invitation-based Mass reserved for those 65 and older or high-risk.
Because of the continued risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus, Archbishop Aquila continues to dispense the faithful from their Sunday and Holy Day obligation.
We will continue to record and send out Sunday Mass and stream Daily Mass until all health concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic are lifted.
We will continue to offer Holy Communion in the parking lot following all Masses for those who wish to receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, but are unable to attend Mass in the church that day. On Saturdays, we will now start following the 4:00 pm Mass and continue until 5:30 pm. Please continue to line-up along the long driveway instead of parking in the parking lot.
The Office is open on Mondays from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm and Tuesday through Friday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Masks are required in all buildings per the state order. We will continue to offer contact-free pick-up and drop-off of items using the bench and mail slot.
In addition to being available by appointment, the sacrament of Reconciliation will now be offered on Saturday 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm and Tuesday through Friday at 11:30 am before our noon Mass. Please find out more here.
UPDATE 6/21/2020
WHAT’S CHANGED
Starting this Monday, June 22nd Daily Mass at noon on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays will switch from invitation-based attendance to a more open format.
As many of you know, we have specific pews marked in the church to allow for social distancing and to help us disinfect pews after each Mass. Starting 15 minutes before Mass, we will seat parties until our spots are full or we've reached our 50 person limit, whichever come first.
Please be sure to leave at least 6 feet of distance between households as you wait to come into the church and wait to be seated by our ushers.
Daily Mass on Wednesdays, the day dedicated to St. Joseph, will remain an invitation-based Mass reserved for those 65 and older or high-risk. Weekend Masses will also remain invitation-based at this time.
WHAT’S THE SAME
Archbishop Aquila continues to dispense the faithful from their Sunday and Holy Day obligation.
We will continue to record and send out Sunday Mass and stream Daily Mass until all health concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic are lifted.
We will continue to offer Holy Communion in the parking lot following Masses for those who wish to receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, but are unable to attend Mass in the church that day. On Saturdays, we will now start following the 4:00 pm Mass and continue until 5:30 pm. Please continue to line-up along the long driveway instead of parking in the parking lot.
We are keeping our Saturday 4:00 pm Mass limited to 25 people for those 65 and older or high-risk. Because Mass is still limited, we are keeping our invitation system for Wednesdays and weekend Masses. If you have not already signed-up to be invited to celebrate Mass with us in the church, please use the button below. If you have already signed-up, Maura will continue to invite you as she has availability.
The Office is open on Mondays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and Tuesday through Friday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Masks are required. We will continue to offer contact-free pick-up and drop-off of items using the bench and mail slot.
In addition to being available by appointment, the sacrament of Reconciliation will now be offered on Saturday mornings and Tuesday through Friday at 11:30 am before our noon Mass. Please find out more here.
REMINDERS ABOUT MASS
We ask that everyone over the age of 2 wear a mask or face covering the entire time they are in the church (or Office or Holy Family Hall) and keep a social distance of at least 6 ft. between themselves and clergy, staff, ministers, and other households. Please do this as an act of charity toward others.
There is still a risk of infection and we encourage everyone, especially at-risk individuals, to prayerfully consider before signing-up to attend Mass.
We will collect an offertory at every Mass as a convenience for those who are invited to a Daily Mass instead of a Sunday Mass.
Holy Communion will be distributed at the conclusion of Mass due to filming and to allow clergy and ministers to put on their masks. The Eucharist will be distributed in the species of bread and in the hand only.
Please leave through the doors near Our Lady of the Eucharist when you have finished praying. We ask that all conversations be moved outside for safety and so our ministers can disinfect the pews.
UPDATE 6/16/2020 LETTER FROM FR. JOSEPH
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am so excited to say, “Welcome home everyone!” after being away from our beautiful church for more than two months. I truly understand how difficult and challenging this situation has been. I often cried at prayer services and Masses when I saw the empty pews with no voice of worship. You could hear my voice getting choked a few times when I said the prayers of the Mass last Sunday, May 10th, in our parish recorded Mass.
As Mass resumes, things are not the same as they used to be. Each Mass is limited to “10 people only” as we currently obey our local government order and follow our Archdiocesan guidelines. It is truly a sacrifice for all of us to go through this pandemic together until further notice. I strongly urge you to realize the fact that we are all fighting with the deadly coronavirus. It is everywhere. It is attacking millions and taking hundreds of thousands of lives throughout the world. We want to stop its spread and growth so we all can return to our normal life soon. The only weapon to fight it with is to work together to create a safe environment for everyone when we are in public by wearing masks or something covering our faces, keeping social distancing at least 6 feet away from others, and strictly following other important guidelines for everyone’s safety. I invite you to read the decree of the Archbishop and the Archdiocesan guidelines posted on our parish website for more details.
I am deeply grateful that even in this time of challenge and uncertainty, you have shown your faith by participating in our online Masses and services. You have been patient with unexpected changes. You have kept my staff and me in your daily prayers and supported our parish generously. I sincerely appreciate everything you have done for our parish family. On behalf of the entire family of St. Joseph parish, I humbly thank you. Be assured of my prayers for you!
May God, the Giver of all lives and Source of all blessings richly bless you and yours through the powerful intercessions of our Blessed Mother Mary and our parish patron Saint Joseph!
Sincerely yours,
Fr. Joseph Tran, Pastor
UPDATE 5/7/2020
Our Archdiocese has recently announced that the celebration of limited public Masses can resume on May 9th, 2020. How this looks will vary slightly from parish to parish based off of many factors including building size and city/county regulations. We know how much you long to return to Mass and to receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. We are working hard to set everything up so we can invite small groups back to Mass. We are also working to provide more parishioners than our size limitations allow for access to receive the Holy Eucharist. We are planning on releasing full details as well as a way to sign-up to attend Mass with our recording of Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
We anticipate our first limited public Mass on May 16th. Why the delay? We have numerous parishioners who do not have access to email or the internet and we are working on reaching out to them by phone. It’s important to us that we approach this unique situation together as a Parish family. We will do our best to make this process at equitable as possible and appreciate your kindness and patience at this time.
The Archbishop is continuing dispensation for the faithful from their Sunday and Holy Day obligation and we will continue to provide recorded Mass online.
UPDATE 4/22/2020
We miss you all deeply and hope you and your families are safe and well.
We met yesterday to start discussing how upcoming changes to Colorado's stay-at-home order will affect our Parish. On April 28th Colorado will be moving from a stay at home order to safer at home instructions. We're still waiting on exact details from our state and local government and from our Archbishop on what this changes, but as soon as we have more information we will share it with you. From what we know currently, Catholics of our archdiocese will continue to be dispensed from their Sunday obligation until public celebration of Mass resumes and it is safe for all to attend.
Colorado reopening will be slow, but steady. At this time it looks like we will still be limited to gatherings of 10 or less with strict social distancing measures. We know many of you desire to participate in the Liturgy and receive the Eucharist again (and we want you to as well!), but it may be a little longer before we can safely proceed. We are struggling with patience and obedience too, but continue to trust in God.
Please continue to reach out to us by phone, email, letters, pictures, and Facebook comments; we love hearing from you!
UPDATE 3/26/2020
Hi Everyone,
We wanted to reach out and update you on everything here at St. Joseph's and let you know that we are thinking about you and praying for you.
First, if you need help picking up groceries or prescriptions we've had a number of generous volunteers offer to help with these tasks. Please email Teri at teril@stjoegold.org or call the Office at 303.279.4464 during business hours so we can connect you to a volunteer.
To reduce our contact with each other for our well-being as we provide essential spiritual outreach at this time, half the staff will work in the mornings and the other half will work in the afternoons.
The Parish Office is open to phone calls and emails (and we love hearing from you!), but our doors will be locked as of Thursday, March 26th for safety.
At this time, in obedience to the governor of Colorado and our Archbishop, and for the safety of everyone with our current state-wide stay-at-home mandate, our Chapel and the Church will be closed for private prayer until further notice. We are also cancelling our "Drive-in" Adoration planned for Friday, March 27th. Thankfully, God is everywhere! This is a time to find Him in our own space, in the backyard, the front yard, in the sunshine, and especially in solitude. This special Lent, while we struggle with this pandemic, we strongly encourage you to stay home.
But we're looking for new ways to connect with you virtually!
We're using Facebook Live to share Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Angelus, and a Rosary with you at home at noon on Monday through Friday. Follow our page @StJosephGolden to stay connected with us through Facebook.
Website
Our website, www.stjoegold.org/coronavirus, features up to date information about our Parish, links to pre-recorded Sunday Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, and resources to help you and your family grow in faith at home. We will also try to add a "virtual Chapel" in the near future. This page will also be updated with Sunday Mass after it is recorded this weekend.
YouTube
According to the liturgical norms of the Archdiocese, Masses and services for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil may not be pre-recorded. We are currently planning to live stream these liturgies using YouTube so our parishioners without Facebook can participate as well. A link to our new YouTube channel can be found here.
Streaming Schedule
Palm Sunday, April 5th at 9:15 am
Holy Thursday, April 9th at 7:00 pm
Good Friday, April 10th at 3:00 pm
Easter Vigil, April 11th at 8:00 pm
Easter Sunday, April 12th at 9:15 am*
*Easter Sunday Mass will be available to watch following the live stream.
Send in Your Pictures
We miss seeing you and would love to be able to share photos of our beloved Church family in our bulletin. Snap a pic of how you're coping at home, anything fun or creative you're doing, or how you're celebrating our faith individually or as a family. Let us know how you are doing and email your photos to Audrey at audreyg@stjoegold.org.
Readying Your Domestic Church
We'll be sharing projects and DIY fun during Holy Week on our website and Facebook page to help us all prepare our domestic churches for the celebration of Easter.
We hope you are all well and staying healthy. It is hard being separated from so many of our friends and loved ones, but we are looking forward with hope this will be ended soon.
May God Bless You,
Fr. Joseph and the Parish Staff
UPDATE 3/20/2020
We will be using Flocknote to send a video of Sunday Mass with Fr. Joseph this weekend. Thank you of your continued support of our Parish during this difficult time. We feel your absence here deeply and are very excited to share Mass with you online. We continue to pray for you and the world as we struggle to overcome the COVID-19 virus.
Looking for ways to maintain our Faith at home, check out our new page here.
UPDATE 3/13/2020
In light of the Governor’s order to cancel all gatherings of more than 250 people, the bishops of Colorado have unanimously agreed to suspend the public celebration of Mass in Colorado until the end of March. This is effective immediately. All events at the parish have been canceled including Stations of the Cross, Fish Fries, the Lenten Penance Service, the Lenten Mission, Religious Education classes, and our Celebration of our patron, St. Joseph.
The Parish Office and Holy Family Chapel will remain open during regular office hours. We do ask that you visit the office for urgent needs only. The Church will be open on Sundays from 8:00 am to noon for private prayer. Please spread out when in the Church and Chapel. Remember that it is an act of charity toward others to remain home if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms or think you may have been exposed to the novel Coronavirus.
We will provide more information soon on how to keep the Lord’s Day Holy including praying the Rosary, meditating on the daily readings, or celebrating Mass from home with EWTN. Fr. Joseph will be saying Mass privately each day to keep our Mass Intentions. Let us continue to pray for those who are selflessly working in the medical field, working to find a vaccine, caring for patients, and for the patients and their families. Thank you.
Please visit archden.org/coronavirus for more information from the Archdiocese of Denver and Archbishop Samuel Aquila.
ORIGINAL POST 3/10/2020
We’re implementing some temporary changes for the celebration of Mass as precautions against the spread of the Coronavirus. The risk is currently low, but your safety and health are important to us.
Current Changes:
Holy Water has been removed from the fonts. We are still celebrating Baptisms, but will use fresh Holy Water at those times.
Hand sanitizer is available at the Church entrances and will continue to be used by our Eucharistic Ministers before Holy Communion.
Distribution of the Precious Blood during Holy Communion has been suspended. Please let us know ahead of Mass if you need a low-gluten host.
We will not have an offertory gifts procession.
We will not hold hands during the Our Father or shake hands during the Sign of Peace (waves and smiles encouraged!).
If you are unwell, please know that you are not obligated to come to Mass and staying home can be an act of charity toward your fellow parishioners.
You can learn more here.