Dear Parishioners of Holy Name of Jesus,
Once again, I hope this note finds you and your family healthy and doing well in the midst of these uncertain times during the COVID-19 outbreak. On behalf of our priests, deacons and our entire staff, we miss you greatly and look forward to the day when we can go back to our regularly scheduled activities. With the new national guidelines, it seems that we will still be embracing social distancing through the end of April. Until these precautionary measures come to an end, please be safe and prudent, embracing the directives of the CDC to lessen the spread of the coronavirus.
As your pastor, I wanted to again offer some guidance regarding the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Bishop Noonan has highlighted an important aspect of Church teaching:
“In case of physical or moral impossibility in which a person cannot personally go to confession to a priest, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law, a person is to make an Act of Contrition with a sincere desire to go to confession as soon as it is possible” (CCC 1484; CIC 960).
This teaching is not only for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but also for the other Sacrament of Healing, the Anointing of the Sick. The Catechism further clarifies,
“Where the individual faithful find themselves in the painful impossibility of receiving sacramental absolution (through Anointing or Reconciliation), it should be remembered that perfect contrition, coming from the love of God, expressed by a sincere request for forgiveness and accompanied by a firm resolution to, when possible, to take part in the sacraments, obtains the forgiveness of sins, even mortal ones (cf. CCC 1452).”
With this guidance of Divine Mercy from the Universal Church, rest assured of God’s love and forgiveness for you and yours who come before the Lord with a humble and contrite heart.
We also wanted to let you know that we are now not only live-streaming and recording the 8:45 am Mass on Sunday, but we will be doing the same for our Wednesday 8:30 am Mass beginning April 1st. In conjunction, at the conclusion of the Wednesday, 8:30 am Mass, we will offer a period of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and offer the Rosary. Please take part in these celebrations through our HNJ Facebook Page and our website www.hnj.org.
Also, please know that we will be live-streaming and recording our Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Mass. The palms blessed during this Mass will be given out to our parishioners once our public liturgies resume.
For the celebration of the Sacred Triduum liturgies, Bishop John Noonan invites you to please join him at St. James Cathedral for the live streaming of the following liturgies:
- Chrism Mass, Wednesday, April 8, at 6:30 pm
- Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Thursday, April 9, at 7:00 pm
- Passion of the Lord, Friday, April 10, at 3:00 pm
- The Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter, April 11, at 8:00 pm
- Resurrection of the Lord, The Mass of Easter Day, April 12, 12:30 pm aired on WFTV Ch. 9
To note: We will live-stream (via Facebook) our Easter Sunday Mass at 8:45 am and place the recording on our website.
Once again, we miss you all very much, and please be assured of our continued prayers. As we prepare to enter into the Passion, death and Resurrection of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, may the Lord, our Divine Physician, bless, protect and grant good health to you and yours!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Scott M. Circe, Pastor