Ash Wednesday Services - February 17, 2021

2330 West Sunnyside Avenue,Chicago IL 60625

17 February, 2021

Description

Ash Wednesday services & Mass - February 17, 2021 Queen of Angels & St. Matthias Parish will have 2 prayer services and 1 Mass on Ash Wednesday at Queen of Angels Church. Prayer services with a Liturgy of the Word and the distribution of ashes will be at 7:00 am in English and at 7:00 pm in Spanish and English. There will be one Mass including distribution of ashes and Communion at 9:00 am in English. Each service and Mass may have 60 people in attendance. To ensure the safety of all parishioners and ministers, there are many new procedures. To prepare for some of the changes you will encounter as you come to the church, please carefully read through the list below: You must register to attend all events at the church. It may not be possible to enter the church if you have not registered prior to arriving. If you have trouble with registration, please call our parish office at 773-539-7510 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday-Friday for live help from office staff. If your plans change and you find you cannot attend a service you registered for, please electronically "return" your ticket so another parishioner can register for your spot.Please arrive at the front of church 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the service. The only entrance to church will be the ramp door on Sunnyside. The Claremont door will NOT be open. Be sure to maintain safe social distance while waiting to enter the church. You will be greeted by a volunteer at the entrance of church and be checked in via the registration list. To enter the church, you must be wearing a mask, apply hand sanitizer at the door, and not feel sick or have a fever. If you are sick, have symptoms, or are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 due to age or poor health, please protect yourself and others by staying home and participating in our streaming Masses. Once you are checked in, you will go up the stairs and be greeted by an usher who will escort you to a pew. Please remain in the pew with your mask in place for the duration of the service. Please refrain from visiting the statues of saints before, during or after the service. We especially ask that congregants not use the restrooms at church unless it is an absolute emergency.There cannot be a collection during any Mass or prayer service. We ask that you drop your offering in the box in the gathering space as you are entering or leaving the church. You can also make your offering using GiveCentral.If you are attending a Mass when Communion is offered, an usher will direct you during Communion and sanitize your hands before you reach the Communion station. Please keep your mask in place until you have received the Eucharist in your hand, then step away from the priest or minister of Communion, to the side, before removing or partially removing your mask to consume the Eucharist. Replace your mask prior to walking back to your pew.At the end of the service an usher will indicate when you should leave your pew to walk out of the church. The side aisles will be used for exiting the church. Please do not stop inside the church to congregate with other people attending the Mass so that the entire assembly will be able to leave the church maintaining safe social distancing. The ushers will not be able to dismiss pews unless the people previously dismissed are moving out. Similarly, please do not congregate on the sidewalk in front of church. Again, we need to provide enough space for all to exit church while maintaining social distancing. As you move throughout the church, please maintain social distancing and pay attention to floor markings. If you need to wait for a moment to let someone pass or for the Communion line to move, wait on a red X. Our aisles are narrow and are therefore marked for one-way travel. As you move to and from your seat, use the center aisle to approach the altar; the side aisles will be used for movement away from the altar to approach the gathering space at the back.There will be no missals or hymnals used. Please do not sing during the service. There will be music, however, we ask that for now you use the music as a time of meditation rather than participation.Likewise, please speak gently the spoken responses and again make sure you keep your mask in place.Please review Tips for Worshippers or Consejos para todos los fieles prepared by the Archdiocese.We would especially like to thank our reopening team for their conscientious work.