Current Directives for Public Masses at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, as of June 6, 2020
In order to for you attend one of our Masses, here are some things that you need to be aware of:
- Because of our capacity, you will no longer need to sign up to attend a Mass.
- Since we have a maximum capacity of around 200 under the 30% rule, we highly suggest that you plan on arriving early for Mass. In order to maintain the directives from the Bishop, the church doors will be locked when we reach capacity or if we have not reached capacity we will lock them 5 minutes prior to the start of Mass so that our ushers (who will be counting people as they enter) can attend Mass.
- You must bring your own mask and wear your mask during Mass.
- We ask that you use the hand sanitizer in the church before taking your seat.
- Please maintain a social distance at all times of at least 6 feet.
- You will find the church has many pews blocked off. Please sit in a pew that is not blocked off.
- If you are a single or a couple, we ask that you move towards the front of the church since those pews are shorter. We need to try to hold the back pews for larger families. This means that you will most likely not be able to sit in your “favorite spot” for the time being. We greatly appreciate your cooperation in this matter until we are back to full capacity. If a single person were to sit towards the back in a larger pew, this would make it difficult for anyone else to be able to sit with you and we will lose valuable space for other people.
- We will not be able to have a kneeler for the reception of Holy Communion for the time being because there is no way to clean it between use. Communicants are welcome to receive kneeling but please be aware that the kneeler cannot be used at this time.
- Please follow the directions of the ushers at Communion time. The flow will be a little bit different than what we are used to and your cooperation will help us to proceed smoothly. There will only be 4 stations for Communion and the aisles for Communion will all be “one way streets” instead of what we are used to.
- The ushers will have a basket for your envelopes and donations that they will be holding as you exit your row for the reception of Holy Communion.
- Please exit the church immediately following Mass (after the priest and deacons have exited the church) since we will need to clean the church between Masses. Once again, please maintain a 6 ft distance from others while exiting.
- Please do not socialize in the church or narthex before or after Mass.
- You must enter and exit through the narthex doors only. Seton Hall will not be open for traffic.
- If at all possible, we ask that you please try to refrain from using the bathroom. Each time someone uses the restroom, it requires that we go in and clean it.
- If you are sick, elderly or vulnerable in some way, we remind you that are still welcome to stay home. The Bishop’s dispensation from the Sunday obligation to attend Mass is still in effect until further notice.
We will continue to live-stream the 4:00pm Saturday Mass each week for the duration of that dispensation.
***I know that’s a lot of stuff, but we appreciate your observing these procedures***