March 23, 2020

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We are all aware of the events of the past few weeks. Things like prohibiting the celebration of Public Mass, social/religious gatherings, fear of touching or talking to another person, et cetera were always things we read about in history books or science fiction books. Today we are living “Present Day Non-Fiction”. It is real.

We will do our best to stay in contact with you on our Parish web-site (www.ipswichcatholics.org), by e-mail,or by the Parish bulletin (available in the church or on-line). If you know of anyone who does not have Internet, please pass this information on to them. It is almost the only way we can communicate.

Hopefully you know that even though public Mass is prohibited, the Church remains open each day from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM for personal prayer. We as Catholics know that the Lord is truly present with us in His Body and Blood (The Eucharist) reserved in the Tabernacle. When you visit the Church to pray, you are not alone. The Lord is present with His people. I have happily noticed this past week the people who have come to the Church, throughout the day, to pray. Hopefully, this time of challenge will build up in each of us a renewed appreciation of the Lord truly present in the Eucharist.      I also hope that an awareness of the beauty of visiting the Lord in the Tabernacle during the day will allow us to keep our Church open everyday from morning to night.     I also want you to know that even though there have been no public Masses for the past week, I have celebrated Mass each day in our Church for you, your loved ones living and deceased. In the meantime, you are encouraged to watch daily Mass on Boston Catholic TV, EWTN, or other Catholic websites.  I am aware that some other Parishes are able to broadcast Masses to their parishioners over the Internet. We will be working on this possibility.

Many times the Lord said, “Do not fear!” or “Be not afraid, I am with you”! Sometimes this seems hard to believe. In reality, it takes Faith. Throughout all of this, I suggest as others have suggested, listen to Federal/State/Medical/Church authorities. Do not be weakened by rumor, fear, ignorance. “The Truth will set you free!

 In Christ,  Tom Keyes