STATESVILLE — Many parishioners at St. Philip the Apostle Church volunteered to spend a recent Saturday morning sanitizing their church, after it was announced that the churches could reopen. The volunteers cleaned the pews, doors, tables, bathroom fixtures, prayer books and other high-touch surfaces in anticipation of returning to in-person worship services.
The parish’s regular Mass schedule has since resumed, but as at other parishes across the Diocese of Charlotte, services are being organized to ensure safe physical distancing and other public health directives to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Parishioners who are ill or vulnerable are encouraged to stay at home and attend Mass online through livestreamed services.
— Photo provided by Connie Ries
Despite the limitations on public gatherings imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, parishes have still found ways to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary during May, the Month of Mary.
May crownings, including this one outside St. Mark Church in Huntersville (with St. Mark second-grader Hannah Hoover representing the school along with Johnathan Kelly-Bleiler), and Fatima processions, like this one outside St. Thomas Aquinas Church on May 13, were among the celebrations held. May isn’t over yet – plan your own do-it-yourself Marian devotion at home, such as a May crowning or planting a Marian garden.
For more ideas on how to honor Mary as a family this month, check out www.joyfullydomestic.com/may-devotions.
— Photo provided by St. Thomas Aquinas Church