Parish Family Announced
Partners in Gospel is a strategic pastoral planning effort taking place across the Archdiocese of Seattle to re-invigorate and renew our local Catholic Church. It will bring most parishes together into a new family structure with two or more parishes. The pastor, parish leaders and parishioners will determine how this new family will best join as one parish to carry out the mission of the Church.
The proposed draft for our parish family would include St. John the Baptist (Covington) and Holy Spirit (Kent).
Over 2000 pages of input has been submitted to the Archdiocese. Twenty readers will parse through the information and report on their findings. In January, we will find out if the proposed family is the same. In April, the Archdiocese will announce priest assignments to the new parish families. Thanks to all for your participation in our listening sessions.
Archbishop Etienne has written a pastoral letter regarding Partners in the Gospel. He outlines the reasons behind restructuring our 136 parishes into 55 Parish Families and how each parish family can become one vibrant faith community. It will be difficult work, but done in a spirit of hope and collaboration can renew parish life and bring us the joy of being partners in the Gospel. To read his letter click on the button below.
February 22
Ash Wednesday is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics aged 18-59. The Norms of fasting permit Catholics to eat one full meal and two smaller meals that together would not make a full meal. Abstinence from meat is the norm for Catholics 14 and older.
Why-AshesOctober 2, 2022
The chalice is always optional, but it is important for the faithful to be able to partake of his fuller sign of Eucharistic sharing if they wish.
~ Fr. Bill
Communion Under Both Kinds
After more than two and a half years, the chalice may once again be shared with the faithful. All restrictions on the sharing of the Precious Blood with the assembly have been lifted. As we have discovered throughout COVID, every person’s comfort level is different and should be respected. People’s readiness to receive from the cup will vary.
The Church teaches and believes that Christ is present, body and blood, soul and divinity, in the sacrament of his Body and Blood, and that Christ is fully present under the form of bread and under the form of wine. Thus, even when communion under both kinds is not possible, the presence of Christ is not diminished. However, “sharing in both Eucharistic
species reflects more fully the sacred realities that the Liturgy signifies.”1 When we receive under both kinds, “we obey the Lord’s command and grow in the likeness of the Lord whose Body and Blood they both signify and contain.”2
There have always been concerns around sharing germs when we share the chalice. The Archdiocese has found no scientific evidence indicating a shared cup spreads the COVID-19 virus. Many dioceses have already resumed the sharing of the chalice and have not had issues with transmission of COVID-19. People are not required to receive, and those who
wish to do so are not at a greater risk because close contact does not take place. The chalice is always optional, but it is important for the faithful to be able to partake of this fuller sign of Eucharistic sharing if they wish.
There is no mandated timeline for restoring the chalice to the assembly. It will be important to make all needed preparations before reintroducing it, including training additional Eucharistic Ministers, especially in the wiping and turning of the cup which
makes it safer for people to receive.
1 Norms for the Distribution of Holy Communion under Both Kinds, 11
2 Norms for the Distribution of Holy Communion under Both Kinds, 2