St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

Dear Parishioners of St. John the Baptist,

We want to convey to you some important updates to our parish life regarding the COVID-19 order announced last Sunday evening by Governor Whitmer. The order went into effect this morning, November 18th.  While the order includes the power to ban gatherings of people, all orders remain subject to the constitutional protection of free exercise of religion. As has been the case since the start of COVID-19 restrictions and orders, we are exempt from penalty for religious worship. It is also important to note that the Diocese remains unaware of any outbreaks connected to one of its churches. We have received the following information from the Diocese of Lansing which will have an impact on some of the parish events here at our parish. 

The dispensation for Mass has been extended until Tuesday, February 16th, 2021.        

Bishop Boyea has confirmed that Masses (and sacraments and devotions) will continue under the present liturgical guidelines. This means that we will continue to offer our current Mass schedule Tuesdays through Sundays as well as continue to offer confessions, baptisms, weddings, funerals, and Eucharistic Adoration times. This is good news compared to the complete shut down from last April and May! 

The Diocese has prohibited other scheduled parish events and parish gatherings and they are detailed here: 

• In order to protect the parish office staff and to keep the parish office able to function, we are closing the office to the public. We will still be working in the office but access to it is restricted. Please call the parish office at 734-483-3360 if you need assistance and we will do our best to answer any question and assist you over the phone. We can easily offer contactless pick up or drop off of items should the need arise. 
• All Bible Studies on site will be cancelled at this time.
• Eucharistic Adoration on Tuesdays through Advent and our regular Wednesday adoration will be limited to a total of 10 people inside the chapel at one time. If you arrive and there are already 10 people in that space,  please either return at a different time or wait in your car until someone leaves.

Additionally, since Eucharistic Adoration is something we can do during these stressful times, we are hoping to offer even more opportunities to spend one-on-one time with our Lord. We can all use more of that right now, can’t we?! 

“Let us continue to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”  (2 Corinthians 4:18)

In Christ,

Fr. Dan Westermann, Pastor