October 1, 2020 Parish Update

      The mayor went duck hunting this past weekend.  He shot six in the three days.  My father was a duck hunter—for a short time during my childhood.  I never have been one.  Since the mayor was gone I walked alone Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  I did something I haven’t done in a long while, I listened to Apple Music.  I picked out the 70s channel and wandered the dark streets of Prescott listening to songs from my college and seminary years.  I have to say the music took me right back to the apartment I had on St. John’s campus.  I was one of the first apartment dwellers there.  It was a small building.  I believe there were only four or six apartments right on the banks of one of the three lakes on the campus.  A couple of the songs really put me in a nostalgic mood.  As I look back I am well aware of the mistakes I’ve made along the way but I ended each walk being grateful to God for the blessings I’ve also received.
        This coming Tuesday the children—one class at a time—will start coming back to Mass.  If you’d like to attend Mass on Tuesday please reserve a spot and sit in back of the church as the children will take up the first two or three open rows.  I have not been in the school since we began holding classes.  Really no adults other than immediate school staff are allowed into the building.  I listened to Dr. Fauci this morning.  He predicts that we will not get back to anything like normal until next summer.  I’m assuming this is the way it’s going to be for the rest of the school year.
        Anita Sterud asked me about decorations for church this past week.  I suggested only a couple of poinsettia plants for the Christmas season. We really won’t be doing Mass as we used to until well after Christmas.  The mayor asked me this morning if I was in the early group that got a shot and booster of the covid vaccine by the end of January, would I go away this winter.  Yup was my definitive response.  I suspect everyone is feeling itchy, needing to get out.  Still we have to remember that those who have gone before us have lived through much worse.  And that in itself is a blessing.  Have a good week.   GRS