DIVINE MERCY PARISH Schuyler, NE

St. Augustine’s Church - 619 Banner

St. Mary’s Church - 1019 Banner

Parish Office - 308 West 10th

May 24th, 2020

Divine Mercy Parish Mission Statement:

Our mission is to be a living sign of God reflecting the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your

son, so that your son may glorify you.”

JOHN 17:1

Divine Mercy Parish Office

308 west 10th Street Schuyler, Ne 68661

Phone:402-352-3540 Fax:402-352-5971 E-mail: divinemercyschuyler@gmail.com Web: divinemercyschuyler .com Pastor: Fr . Ger ry Gonderinger

Associate Pastor: Fr . Jairo E. Congote

Deacons: Danny Hastings

Paul Doerneman

Bookkeeper Secretary: Patr icia Gonzalez

Secretary: Yenny Delgado

DRE: Renee Blum

CFF Secretary: Adriana Alarcon

Facilities Manager: Danny Hastings

Maintenance: Jim Gonsior

Maintenance: John Emanuel

Rosary Crusade: Carol Hastings

Mass No Masses in Church

Mass available for viewing Facebook Live Stream

7:00am / Fr. Gerry 12:00pm / Fr. Jairo

Sacraments

Reconciliation: Contact Pr iest. Baptisms: Contact Par ish Office. Weddings: Please contact The Par ish Office six months in advance. Special arrangements are required for anyone 18 or under.

Congratulations Father Gerry on your 46th priestly anniversary.

From Fr. Gerry… 2nd Collection Catholic Communication Campaign.

Tentative Opening for Public Mass: We are thinking of mid June as a tentative opening for public Mass. This will depend on the conditions of the pandemic in Colfax County. We may have to suspend Masses if the pandemic gets worse or people are not observing social distancing etc. At the moment of this writing, we have 521 in Colfax county with Covid-19. 1 out of every 15 persons over 18 years of age in Colfax county has tested positive. This is a low number , because spouses are not often counted in this number. We have had a high rate of infection! However, we hear that many people who had the virus are now well, so that is a reason for some hope. The archbishop has continued the suspension of the obligation to attend Mass until further notice due to the pandemic. Even when we open the following people should not come to church (per advice of Archbishop Lucas): The elderly; People with underlying medical conditions; Family members who live with elderly people or those who are at risk; People who have access to those at risk in nursing institutions; People who have or live with someone who has upper respiratory or flu like symptoms; People with COVID-19 or live with someone with COVID-19; People who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 .

These will be the rules/procedures for public Mass when we open: The critically important thing is that everyone wears a face mask. From my understanding of the pandemic, this is perhaps even more

important than social distancing. Please do not come to Mass without a face mask.

The face mask protects the rest of us. Scientists say we need 1,000 droplets to get the virus. (A cough contains 200,000 droplets.) In just talking, we expel about 100 droplets a minute.

It is going to be difficult to observe social distancing in church. In the beginning we will try to put only one family in every other pew. Please do not bring your pre-teenage children to Church for the first month, even if only one parent can come (the other parent can go to another mass or weekend). If we have filled up the Church, we will have to close the doors! At St. Mary’s, the overflow can go to the basement to observe social distancing.

We need two hours between Masses to sanitize the church. Therefore we will move Sunday 8:00am Mass to St. Mary's, and move the Spanish 9:30am Sunday Mass to 9:00am at St. Augustine's.

Our Saturday schedule will be the same. Sunday schedule: English at 8:00 and 10am at St. Mary's; Spanish at 9:00 and 11:00 at St. Augustine's. (Not sure yet whether we will have the Sunday 5:00pm Mass at St. Mary's that weekend.)

All communion must be received in the hand. No communion on the tongue during the pandemic. One line for communion leading to Plexiglas communion station. We will mark off

with tape 6 foot increments on the main aisle, please observe these when coming to communion. We will begin communion from the back of Church.

Every other pew will be taped off to be left vacant. (We may have to do this for a while). We have narrow aisles on the side of the pews, please move in so that a person coming back from communion is 6 feet away from you if you are at the end of the pew.

There will be no missalettes in the pews. (If so we would have to sanitize each one between masses.) We will have to sing our songs in Church from memory. (This is why hummingbirds hum, they forgot the words!)

The Church pews and doorknobs and bathrooms will be sanitized between masses. We will dismiss people after Mass from the back rows first. Please do not gather in front of the church. (I hate to say that, because seeing people at church is sometimes the only times we have to chat.) The priest will not process in or out, but we come out from the sacristy and return there.

There will be no servers during this time. We will see about lectors and EMHC’s later on.

There will be only one person distributing communion. We will begin with the people in the back row of Church. Come towards the altar in a single file, six feet apart. Receive the host in your hand, step two steps to the side, take off your facemask and put the host in your mouth.

I know we haven’t thought of everything, but we do all this for our mutual safety. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Please wear a mask to protect everyone else.

Father Gerry continue

Odds and Ends Bulletin: To get the English bulletin on the internet, use this link: https://www.parishesonline.com/find/divine-mercy-parish You can then download the latest bulletin as well as back issues. This is a site sponsored by our bulletin publisher LPi. We have printed copies of the bulletin in St. Mary’s by the elevator on the top floor. Faith Formation Registration: You can register

for this fall’s Faith Formation classes on our web site. Click on “Faith Formation” and then “Registration 2020- 2021” and you can fill in all the information on the internet.

We don’t know if “social distancing” will still be necessary at this time or not. This will affect how we will have our Faith Formation classes. I don’t know what the school year is going to look

like in the Fall, but I am preparing to put my 7th grade Faith Formation class on the internet. Perhaps we can have

a Zoom meeting once a month and another time have each group come separately to Church so we can observe social distancing. (I found a neat program that lets me do a voice-over with video on my PowerPoint slide presentations. You can even add a quiz/survey and it will email the teacher the results!) If you need food, please call Patr icia at the rectory. They have drive-through, contactless food distribution on Wednesday nights under the overpass. We do have some food in the garage at St. Mary’s and if you need some, Patricia will get it and place the bags outside the garage door and you can come and pick it up. Fr. Jairo and I live-stream our masses on Facebook. I realize that it is easier for many of you to see Fr. Miksch’s Mass on T.V. I kidded him that he will have to be signing autographs when this is all over. You can donate to the par ish by going to the

archdiocesan web site: www.archomaha.org/offertory. We would appreciate it. We got our PPP loan from the Federal Government for the parish for

$58,300. This will cover salaries, benefits and perhaps utilities for two months. This will help us over this tough time for everyone. If you are still getting your full salary, we would appreciate your regular contribution. If you aren’t, we’ll suffer with you.

Anniversary of Ordination: This May 25 is the 46th anniversary of my ordination as a priest. I hate to be retiring just when I am figuring out what I am supposed to be doing. I have enjoyed being a priest and

have enjoyed being at Schuyler so much. I have met some wonderful loving people over the years that are close friends. God has so blessed me. I was worried in the seminary that I would get tired of “saying Mass” or that I would be lonely. I am happy to report that neither has happened. I still enjoy celebrating Mass and I don’t have the time to stay in contact with all the people I consider friends. People have been very kind to me and I hope that I have touched people as deeply as so many have touched my life. As I approach retirement on July 1st, I want to remind you that I will still continue weekend Masses, weddings, funerals and quinceañeras. Pandemic and Ritual: We never realized how important ritual was until the pandemic when weddings, funerals, graduations and birthday parties all had to be suspended or abbreviated. We may not be able to have a big celebration for Mauricio Tovar for his ordination, but we will schedule a time when we can celebrate later. An ordination of a native son is too big of an event for a parish not to celebrate. My retirement celebration will have to be postponed to a later time when it is safe for us to be together. I’ll still be around, so a retirement celebration is sort of anti-climatic. God bless and take care: May the Holy Spir it enlighten the researchers around the world to new insights and connections so that we may find a vaccine to protect us from this virus!

Family Connection

In today’s Gospel we glimpse Jesus’ prayer for his disciples. If we read further in John’s Gospel, we find that Jesus prayed for his disciples’ protection from the evil one. Jesus also prayed for all those who would have faith in him because of the disciples’ teaching. That means that Jesus prayed for us as well, even before his death on the cross. Our faith tells us that Jesus continues to intercede for us at the Father’s right hand.

Readings for May 25th-30th

Monday: ACTS 19:1-8 / JN 16:29-33

Tuesday: ACTS 20:17-27 / JN 17:1-11A Wednesday: ACTS 20:28-38 / JN 17:11B-19

Thursday: ACTS 22:30; 23:6-11 / JN 17:20-26 Friday: ACTS 25:13B-21 / JN 21:15-19

Saturday: ACTS 28:16-20, 30-31 / JN 21:20-25

Sunday, May 31st 1st: ACTS 2:1-11

2nd: 1 COR 12:3B-7, 12-13 Gospel: JN 20:19-23

Usccb.org/bible/readings/today

Fr. Gerry: Saturday May 23rd - 7:00am / FB † Jeff & Mariah Cummings.

Fr. Gerry: Sunday May 24th- 7:00am / FB People of the Parish.

Fr. Gerry: Monday May 25th- 7:00am / FB † Dick & Marilyn Dolezal.

Fr. Gerry: Tuesday May 26th - 7:00am / FB † Dave Vanek.

Fr. Gerry: Wednesday May 27th - 7:00am / FB S.I. Graduating Seniors.

Fr. Gerry: Thursday May 28st - 7:00am / FB Deceased Members of Women of Divine Mercy.

Fr. Gerry: Friday May 29th - 7:00am / FB † Deacon Carl A. Perrin.

Divine Mercy Parish Contributions Our weekly budgeted income is: $ 7,425.00 Received : $ 2,857.00 Envelopes: $ 2,330.00 Loose cash $ 25.00 Easter: $ 160.00 Maintenance: $ 130.00 Ascension: $ 275.00 Catholic Communication Campaign: $ 47.00

Parents can register their children for 2020 – 2021 CFF classes at: https://www.divinemercyschuyler.com. Go to Faith Formation tab then Registration 2020 – 2021. Check https://www.divinemercyschuyler.com and Schuyler Catholic Faith Formation Facebook page frequently to stay updated. Adriana is back in the office now to take phone calls but Fr. Gerry is not allowing face to face yet.

7th Sunday of Easter (The Ascension of the Lord)

“I am praying for them…” JOHN 17: 9

Prayer is the foundation of our Faith and the foundation of Stewardship. Pray in good times and in bad. Prayer is always the first best option

in any situation, not just the last resort. Pray for friends and family and for those that don’t treat you very well. Pray to give praise, to thank and to ask God for help. Pray to see what God wants you to do with the gifts He has given you.

Meditation on the season: Nebraska and 4 or 5 other dioceses in the U.S. celebrate Ascension on Thursday, May 21st. Due to a lack of public masses, we will celebrate the feast of the Ascension on Sat-Sun May 30-31st when more of you will view the live-streamed Mass. Meaning of Ascension: Basically it means that Jesus in his human nature returns to the Father and that the human nature of Jesus remains for all eternity. If not, we who come after Jesus would not be saved. Jesus is the bridge between God and human beings, by having a divine and a human nature. Jesus then shares that intimacy with us through the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). The feasts of Easter, Ascension and Pentecost are like three acts in one play. They all refer to the glorification of the human nature of Jesus. On Easter we celebrate that Jesus’ human nature is raised from the dead. On Ascension we celebrate that Jesus in his human nature ascends to the Father and that Jesus is the second person of the blessed Trinity with two natures: divine and human for all eternity. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit is sent to the Church by the Father, through the Son. The Holy Spirit connects us to Jesus and makes Him present in the Church and the sacraments.