Holy Trinity Catholic Church

Dear Parishioners, 

We will begin the public celebration of Sunday Masses on May 30-31, Pentecost Sunday. Bishop Brennan advised that we form a Committee to review the recommendations the Diocese sent to all pastors. Our Committee composed of Dr. Michael Clouse, William Noll, Jan Wilson, Wanda Miller, and Ben Hill has determined that the following measures will apply to our resuming the public celebration of the Eucharist: 

• You will need to use hand sanitizer which will be available at the entrances of the Churches.
• Parishioners are required to bring their own face masks.
• Communion will be distributed in the hand only since it is the most effective way of keeping people healthy. We will come up in single file and have hand sanitizer in the middle of the main isle close to the Communion stations, so that people can use it just before receiving the Eucharist. People will have to remove their face masks and gloves to receive Communion. We will have six-foot markers on the isle to help maintain social distance.
• Hymnals and missals will be removed from the Churches. 
• There will be no choir during this time. We will not be singing the parts of the Mass either so that the less time together will help avoid the spread for the virus.
• There will be no procession or recession at Masses. There will be no offertory procession either to bring up the gifts.
• We will have no altar servers for this time. 
• There will be no sign of peace.
• We will have two Eucharistic Ministers at the front of the main isle with social distance between them. As people receive the Eucharist, they will go back to their pews in the usual manner. At Holy Trinity scaffolding is blocking the left isle, so people sitting on the left side will have to turn to the right after receiving the Eucharist and go to the isle on the right side in order to get back to their pews.
• We will be using every third pew to maintain a safe social distance of six feet of separation. Members of the same family are not required to keep a social distance.
• We will have six-foot markers on the isle to help maintain social distance.
• Bulletins will not be available until the end of mass.
• We are asked to avoid socializing before and after Masses.
• Bishop Brennan has dispensed from the Sunday obligation of attending Mass on Sundays up to September 13, 2020. If you do not feel safe to be in Church with large crowds you may wish to come to a weekday mass. If you are feeling sick, you should stay home. 
• People standing in the back of our Churches will have to maintain a social distance. If this is not possible, we may have to turn people away. This will be difficult since we want all our parishioners to attend Mass.
• We will be recording one of our Masses so that people who are unable to attend Mass for whatever reason will be able to view it on our website as we have been doing the last nine weeks. 

We have included a Covid-19 Self-Monitoring Checklist to help you determine if you should stay home. We are trying to keep you and other parishioners healthy. If you come to Church and have any of these symptoms you potentially endanger others. Similarly, people who are feeling sick have the potential of endangering you. It is a matter of charity to be thinking of the health and wellbeing of yourself and others. 

We will have our challenges as we get back to Church. I am sure we will have to adjust these recommendations to our needs as we begin to come out of lockdown. We will need patience and understanding in this process. If you have any suggestions, please call the office at 740-743 1317. 

God bless, 

 Fr. Stephen F. Carmody, O.P.
 21 May 2020 

COVID-19 Self Monitoring Checklist For the safe opening of churches-Click here to view the letter and checklist.

Holy Trinity School is looking for a Cook.  They must have a State of Ohio Food Service License.  Please email Mr. Noll at the email address below.

THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, & GOD’S MERCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC -Click here to view document