Parish Deacon

Saint Germaine Catholic Parish

Our New Church - Our History - Page 4

Prescott Valley, Arizona

Saint Germaine - SE View
Artist: Carla Foster 1

Public Masses were permitted beginning Monday May 11, 2020, so that evening at 6:30pm we celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in the new church. Our first public mass since the middle of March was the first Mass in the new church

Palms were handed out on Palm Sunday to parishioners as they drove up in their cars. All the Holy Week Masses were live streamed, and the Easter Vigil Mass was celebrated without those who were scheduled to receive their sacraments. They finally received their sacraments on the vigil of Corpus Christi Sunday. The bishop gave permission to distribute Holy Communion after the live stream weekend Masses beginning the first weekend of May.

Saint Germaine - Front Detail
Artist: Wayland Moncrief 7

Many people continued to watch mass on TV or live stream since the bishop continued to dispense the obligation to attend Mass. Holy Communion after the weekend live stream Masses continued. Live streaming of masses continued on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the Saturday evening Mass and Spanish Mass at noon.

In July 2020, the parish was working on refinancing the construction loan with Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, and slow progress was being made on the sound absorbing panels for the new church and for the electronic bell system.

Due to the corona virus pandemic, the bishop suspended all public masses and public gatherings on Monday March 16, 2020. By Friday March 20th, the parish figured out how to live stream Mass on facebook. From that point, until May 11th, when public Masses were permitted again, all the Masses were live streamed. The church was open each day for private prayer, but attendance at Mass was limited to ten or fewer people (only deacons and their spouse, and the staff). We kept the normal daily Mass schedule, but on the weekend we only celebrated Masses at 4:30pm on Saturday, and noon on Sunday (Spanish).

Saint Germaine - Cupola
Artist: Wayland Moncrief 7

During this phase of the pandemic, attendance at Mass was limited to 25% of the capacity of the church, and the parish returned to its normal weekend Mass schedule. The parish was split in half by the first letter of the last name. Those with a last name that began with the letters A-L attended one weekend, and the M-Z folks attend the other weekend, so that most people could attend weekend Mass twice a month. Daily mass was open to anyone who wanted to attend.

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