A Message from Rector Chris Girata About COVID-19
Dear Friends,
Your Saint Michael leaders are serious about our responsibility to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We are staying connected to current news and are taking proactive steps to make our community as safe as we can. Here are just a few of the specific ways we are addressing safety: We have increased the number of cleaning personnel for the church and school, we are disinfecting all regularly touched surfaces more frequently (bathrooms, countertops, door handles), we are more regularly deep cleaning all classrooms and worship spaces, and we are providing hand sanitizer stations in all common areas.
Beginning this weekend, we will suspend passing offering plates during worship services and instead, have monitored offering baskets available. Giving can also be done online or via the Saint Michael app. We ask you all to be cognizant of your personal health, following CDC guidelines, and to stay home if you feel sick. At this time, I am grateful to report that we have no known or presumptive cases of the virus in our church community.
Even with extra precautions in place, some members of our faith family will feel unsafe. If you feel unsafe joining in our corporate worship at any time, know that your Saint Michael family is here praying on your behalf. In addition, and beginning this Sunday, March 15, our main Sunday morning services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. will be available live on our website and Facebook page. This gift will be offered to our parishioners who cannot physically be with us and to our Christian sisters and brothers who are separated from their home churches. I also encourage you to engage with other members of the Saint Michael family digitally on social media platforms and beyond.
We are all being inundated with more information than we can reasonably absorb. To that end, we have established a medical advisory committee that is advising us on ongoing decision-making. We have also dedicated a specific page on our website where we can offer messages to our community, such as updates on weekday classes, as well as online resources we believe are thoughtful and faithful. If you have a question about our current corporate status, or simply want some faith-based information, you may visit by clicking here.
Our faith gives us a foundation of being and meaning in an uncertain world. Our faith is fundamental to who we are, our source of hope, an antidote to loneliness, and a remedy to pain and despair. Take care of yourselves, hold on to hope, be courageous, and rest securely in the holy, eternal presence of God.
May God bless us all,
The Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata
Rector
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