Dear Members of St. Paul’s Church,
Earlier today, Bishop Provenzano alerted the clergy of the Diocese of a mandatory video announcement at 1pm. In essence, the Bishop issued a Directive, after having met with Governor Cuomo who strongly encouraged this, and seeing the actual coronavirus exposure numbers, that effective midnight last night, all liturgies, groups meeting in all churches and church run spaces and all outreach programs will be suspended until March 26. The bishop also advised that, depending on how everything transpires & given the unknown nature of this virus, circumstances may dictate extending this directive to a later date.
Please take a moment and watch the Bishop’s video about all of this. Other Episcopal Diocese around the country have already been forced to suspend services. In the NY metro area the vast majority of houses of worship have suspended worship and meetings as well. The numbers of those exposed have been escalating much more rapidly than expected and for the welfare of us all, we will be sacrificing our communal life for at least the next two weeks. I will be letting you all know what I know as it comes through. Please keep an eye on your email, the diocesan website and the CDC and other health sites.
Thank you to Warren and Ed for helping me call all the parishioners and please hold the parish, our people, and myself in your prayers.
In Christ,
Fr. Shawn+
631-487-7121
https://www.dioceseli.org/media/diocesan-news/coronavirusupdates