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With the extension of Governor Parson’s stay-at-home order through May 3, along with  the decision to keep school buildings in the state closed for the rest of the academic year, Bishop McKnight has issued an updated decree on public worship. We all understand that resuming public life will be a gradual process; therefore, Bishop has lifted the obligation to attend Sunday mass for all the faithful until June 30. Public worship is still suspended through May 3. The new decree makes provisions for the gradual resuming of public worship, as public policies allow.

I noted that when Governor Parson discussed the academic year, he certainly didn’t close schools. That wording is important because we know that our local school district has been anything but closed. The buildings may be closed to the usual activities, but the people of the school district have been busier than ever keeping the education process continuing under very difficult circumstances. I express  my gratitude to Dr. Laura Nelson, an Our Lady of the Lake parishioner, and all the district employees  for their leadership at this time.

I’ve had several discussions with my siblings and nieces and nephews about how education is proceeding at this time. The big question that weighs on everyone’s mind is whether or not students who are not participating in the normal routine of school will fall unrecoverably behind in their studies. None of us wants to prove that right so we teachers and parents are making extraordinary sacrifices to minimize the effect of shifting the classroom to another model.

Obviously business owners are asking the same questions:  will we ever be able to recover economically? What will the new normal be? I am grateful that federal leaders acted so swiftly to protect the incomes of so many workers. Bishop McKnight has been very proactive in ensuring that all diocesan employees are benefiting from the Paycheck Protection Program of the CARES Act, especially those parishes with school and many employees whose offertory collection has been decimated by the lack of public worship.

We are now in the Easter Season. We greet the Risen Lord with an alleluia of joy and praise. And yet, just like the apostle Thomas, we note the wounds of the crucifixion in the resurrected Body of Christ. The Lord shows us that the suffering He endured was real. It wasn’t just a dream or feigned suffering and death. No one who celebrates Holy Week as the church does can deny the reality of the suffering and death of Christ. Resurrection is thus never a forgetting of the Cross, but it is a proclamation that suffering can always bring about new life.

While we may begin to see a glimmer of hope in the plans that are being put into place for Americans to return to public life, we must also recognize that our Lenten journey this year is going to be extended well into the future. I would like for the prohibition against public worship to be only 40 days, but I imagine some form of restricted worship will be enforced for some time.

That means that we will need to continue as a community of faith to find ways to reinforce our unity in prayer and mission. I keep thinking of the Israelites. How much they longed to escape slavery, and yet when things got tough on the journey, they complained to Moses that it was so much better in Egypt.  They wanted to go back to where they were. I believe God is leading us to a new land of promise. I believe that God is opening up our eyes to new opportunities to share the Good News with others. Parish staff and Commission leaders are eager to engage our people in nurturing our faith and extending our charity.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to use online tools for commission meetings, in addition to the regular streaming of all worship services. We will also continue to reach out to all parishioners to ensure that anyone who needs assistance can find it. Most of all, we will continue to grow in our trust in God who, though we may travel through dark valleys shaded with death, will always be at our side.