As we become more and more open, we will need to renew our commitments for the liturgies. There
are many places a person may help.
Ushers. We need ushers at all the Mass times on the weekends: the 4:00pm on Saturdays in St Joseph,
8:00am on Sundays in St Mary, and 10:30am in St Joseph. The usher generally welcomes those who
come in. They help people to be seated in the pew or find their family in the pew. They take the
collection during the offertory song and direct the people at communion time. They also hand out the
bulletins after Mass is done.
Altar Servers. These are kids from 4th grade through high school. They help Father up by the altar. They
hold the book for him, and help him get everything he needs on the altar. They come in and go out with
the priest. They carry the lighted candles or the cross. They can also assist at Holy Hour, weddings,
funerals or baptisms.
Readers/Lectors. These are people who read out loud for the community to hear. They read the
announcements right before Mass begins, parts of the Bible during Mass, and the prayers of the faithful
after the homily.
Sacristan. This person helps behind the scenes with setting things up for Mass. It requires them to come
about half an hour before Mass. They set out all the things needed for Mass. They also may have to
open up the church before anyone gets there and makes sure everything is locked up when leaving.
Live Streaming. This person would help us stream the Mass live for those who are homebound. We
currently live stream on each Parish’s Facebook, and we are looking into other options to add. This
involves operating video cameras, sound, and the live streaming hardware, as well as all the software
involved. This requires some computer knowledge.
These are the needs we have immediately. It will take some training and a little practice to understand
all the ins and outs, but I would greatly appreciate all the help we can get. Do not worry if you cannot
volunteer for every week. We are looking for people to do this simply once a month and be put on a
rotation. One person can make a big difference in helping out. Our biggest need is ushers for the 4:00pm
Mass right now.
The 10:30 coffee and doughnuts. We are looking for some extra people to help set up before and clean
up after. They would set up the coffee pots and set out the cream, sugar and doughnuts. Another
person could help in picking up the doughnuts. Some people even help us with making some baked
goods or a little more substantive food. I would like to start up the coffee and doughnuts again on July
18.
Coming soon, we will need some more people in the choir loft as Mary Ann returns. Please think about
it. It is nice to finally be able to hear music again. It is great to hear your voices. We will have the carts
out soon and put previous missals from last year out. The readings will be wrong, but we can use them
for the music till the beginning of advent, when we get the 2022 missals. But in the meantime, it will
save us some money by not purchasing full missals ourselves for less than half the year of use.
I hope you consider volunteering for the Mass and other liturgies this year. It is great to have everyone
back and I hope to see more of you soon. God bless you!
