Mount Argus Update – 29 November 2020

Moving from Level 5 to Level 3

We begin the public celebration of Mass again on Tuesday, 1 December. Masses will be at 10.00 am and 6.15 pm, Monday to Friday. On Saturday, Mass will be at 11.00 am and 6.15 pm. Sunday Mass will be at 8.00 am, 11.00 am and 4.00 pm. There will be no 9.00 am Mass on Saturday for the time being. We will continue to livestream Mass every morning and evening as usual. The Bishops have said that the obligation to attend Sunday Mass is still suspended.

During this time, the number attending Mass at Mount Argus is restricted to 50 on weekdays, and two zones of 50 each at the public Masses on Saturday and Sunday. We encourage you to phone the office to book to attend Mass. This will guarantee that there is a seat for you when you come to Mass. It also means that if there is a funeral, we can contact you to ask you to come to a different Mass. When you call, we will ask for your name and phone number. We will not keep your name and number after the Mass has been celebrated.

At present the number permitted at a wedding or funeral Mass remains at 25.

From Tuesday onwards, the church will open at 9.30 am from Monday to Friday and will remain open until after the evening Mass. On Saturday the church will open at 10.30 am until after the evening Mass. On Sunday, the church will open at 7.30 am but will close after the 8.00 am Mass and re-open at 10.30 am. This is to allow us to clean and prepare the church for each Mass. The church will remain open after the 11.00 am Mass on Sunday and close after the 4.00 pm Mass.

This week we will also begin having confessions with some changes to the confession times. This is because we cannot use the confessional room but need to use an area with better ventilation. Confessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be from 11.00 to 11.30 am and from 4.00 to 4.30 pm, with the Blessing with the Relic of St Charles at 4.00 pm (as well as after morning Mass). Confessions on Saturday will be from 4.00 to 5.30 in the afternoon. Beginning on Wednesday, 2 December, there will be Eucharistic Adoration on Wednesdays and Fridays from 4.00 to 6.00 pm.

When you come to Mount Argus, we ask you to use the hand sanitisers inside the church and to observe the one-way system of movement which is marked on the floor. The Government is recommending that those coming to church wear masks/ face coverings. We regret that for the present, the toilets are not available to visitors.

We still need more volunteers for cleaning and stewarding. If you are between the ages of 18 and 70, with no underlying health concerns, and are able to help with cleaning and stewarding at Mount Argus, even for one hour per week, please contact us either by email (office@mountargusparish.ie) or by phoning the office (01 4992000).

What will we do at Christmas? The answer to that question is that we don’t know yet. We will look at the safety issues regarding numbers at Mass for Christmas, and I will let you know next week what we intend to do.

We are happy to be welcoming you back to Mass and Confession, but we remind you of the importance of continuing to take the necessary precautions. The pandemic is not over. The virus has not gone away. We do not want people’s lives to be put at risk in church. So let’s continue to have patience and to pray for one another and support one another.