Good afternoon St Paul’s parishioners, 

I am writing you with words of encouragement and comfort.  First, let’s be confident that God - who can write straight with crooked lines - will help bring good fruit from the new normal that you as individuals and families will experience in the weeks ahead.  This is a lot of information, but I encourage you to read through it all.

*The church is no longer open from sun up to sun down

*No Sunday Masses

*No Adoration or Stations

*No Meetings/Group events 

*If you are in need of Holy Water.  Please visit the office and we can refill bottles for you.

In light of everything going on and now Mass being suspended until further notice, I hope we can join together and use this ’down’ time as an opportunity to grow closer to God as a family.  I know these are trying times for all and some may be resentful, some sad, some mad, some confused, some scared, and some just completely exhausted.

There are so many things you can do as a family to stay in the habit of regular prayer; the rosary, chaplet of Divine Mercy, liturgy of the hours, listening to God in Sacred Scripture, prayerful silence, & online Mass.  The Bishop has suggested we watch Mass on Sundays via online or television.   

The importance of Spiritual Communion can’t be emphasized enough at this point.  I have attached guidelines on how to make an Act of Spiritual Communion.  I encourage you to take part, especially at times when you would typically have opportunities to fulfill your Sunday mass obligation.  Continue to ’attend’ Mass via online.  Keep you family in the habit of going to Mass.  Set aside quiet time, with no distractions to do this.

We have had people ask how we can continue to tithe during this time.

1.  You can mail your tithing to the parish at 202 E Washington Street.

2.  Use the online App, One Parish.  If you would like to set this up, contact Tonya in the office.

2.  You can also contact Annette at 812-240-6552 to set up a one time or recurring tithe from your bank account.

During this time the office will remain open with new hours Mon-Thur 8:30am - 1:30pm, or you can call me outside of those hours at 765-720-1728.  If you have a need for the sacrament of Reconciliation or Anointing of the Sick contact the office.   If you are in need of food or medicine, feel free to reach out to the office as well.

If you signed up to pray for Fr. Hollowell, please continue those prayers in your home.

We do have a lot of Catholic resources that we can utilize during this time.  We encourage all families to use FORMED. 

https://formed.org/    Parish password is 7e12f6 

Links to online streaming Masses

EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Mass

EWTN Streaming Adoration  https://www.ewtn.co.uk/live/adoration

Daily Mass with Bishop Robert Barron

http://www.catholictv.org/masses/notre-dame-mass (Sunday Mass)

http://www.catholictv.org/masses/catholictv-mass (Daily Mass)

https://adw.org/parishes-masses/sunday-tv-mass/

https://saltandlighttv.org/thesundaymass/

https://saintpatrickscathedral.org/live

https://livestream.com/oldstpats

Catholic Radio Indy 89.1FM and 90.9 FM broadcasts a daily Mass at 8 a.m. each day from the EWTN chapel in Irondale, Ala.

YouTube has a wealth of homilies from various priests (Fr. Mike Schmitz, Fr. Jonathan Meyer, Fr. Hollowell and many more) https://www.youtube.com/ 

Stay up to date with Father Hollowell’s progress by using this link https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/fatherjohnhollowell   

Here is a great video from Fr. Jonathan Meyer on the closing of churches.                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dbFJU1Evt4&fbclid=IwAR2KLrhOgKoINEjPapdXYziE8ip1XsFW_8qxtGqAosgbkkvED8iXGtCLcRU&app=desktop

Father Hollowell’s Blog  http://on-this-rock.blogspot.com/   

If you would like any additional resources please let me know. 

Now more than ever our prayers are needed. We all know these are unprecedented times, but we must do our best to stay faithful, stay positive, and stay united!  We trust in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit!  I will be touching base weekly, and you will all be in my prayers!!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. 

Prayerfully yours in Jesus,
Tonya