Today I want to talk with about some changes to our protocols at The Basilica. I have discussed these changes with our staff and parish leadership and we believe they will continue to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff and those who come to The Basilica, while at the same time allowing our gradual return to a new normal.

I would like to highlight 6 changes. First, beginning May 30th, while we will continue to maintain social distancing by taping off every other pew in the church, we will increase the maximum number of potential attendees to 450.

Second, we will continue to encourage people to pre-register for any service where we anticipate there will be more than 50 people. This means we won’t ask people to pre-register for daily Mass or other small services.

For services with over 50 attendees, we will continue to ask people to pre-register, but we will also continue to welcome those who show up without pre-registering. Check-in will continue to take place at the southeast ground level doors. Now, let me emphasize that the reason we want to continue to check-in people is in the unlikely event that someone who attended one of our services tests positive for Covid and we need to contact people and let them know.

Third, at check-in we will eliminate the temperature check, but we will continue to ask people if they have had any symptoms or exposures.

Fourth, in regard to facemasks, while I realize the CDC has rescinded this requirement for people who have been vaccinated, the city of Minneapolis has not rescinded its facemask requirement. Given this, we will continue to require people to wear a facemask at The Basilica. As pastor of The Basilica I ask you not to put our staff or volunteers in a difficult position by not complying with this requirement.

Fifth, beginning Sunday May 30th, we will go back to distributing communion at the regular time, instead of at the end of Mass.

Sixth, beginning the first weekend in July we will resume our 5:00pm Mass on Saturday and 7:30am Mass on Sunday morning. Additionally, we will eliminate the 6:30pm Mass on Sunday and change the time of the Sunday afternoon Mass from 4:30 to 5:00pm.

And as always, if you are not able, or don’t feel comfortable joining us in-person for any of our liturgies, we invite you join them via our livestream.

If you have any questions or concerns about these changes I invite you to contact me at the parish office. My contact information is available on our parish website.

Let me close today in prayer.