We will be Live Streaming our Sunday Mass at 10:30 until further notice. If you are unable to attend Mass, or cannot view the Live Stream at 10:30, a recorded version will be available to view at your convenience.
School Golf Outing
Save the Date! Mark your calendars! The Sacred Heart School Golf Outing and Pork Dinner at the Monticello Golf Club “will happen” on Sunday July 5th. Staggered tee off times are 11:00 am – 2:00 p.m. Pork Dinner serving begins at 1:00 p.m. There will be limited seating along with carry-outs. There is a signup sheet for golfers at the Golf Club and golfers can signup the day of the outing or contact the Sacred Heart School office. The event is open to the public. Not a golfer, come and enjoy a delicious pork dinner and support Sacred Heart School.
The cost is $40 per person which includes the pork dinner and $10 per person for the dinner alone.
Return to Liturgy Changes
Return to Liturgy at Sacred Heart & St. Luke
Sacred Heart and St. Luke’s will be opening their doors for face-to-face liturgy services beginning the weekend of June 6-7. There are several health protocols that have been put in place. In order for you to make a decision about whether attending Mass in person is the right option for you and your family, we would like to outline our health and safety plan. One Mass each weekend will continue to be livestreamed on Facebook for those who do not feel comfortable or are unable to attend in person. Mass times are as follows:
Sacred Heart
- Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.
- Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
- Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
St. Luke’s
- Thursday at 8:00 a.m.
- Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
The Church doors will open 30 minutes in advance and will be locked when capacity is reached. There will be no public recitation of the Rosary said before Mass, and we ask that there is no congregating in the gathering spaces or Newman Hall before or after Mass. The Church will be disinfected after each Mass. Mass will be shorter, so we ask that restrooms are used only in emergencies, as they will need to be disinfected by the Ushers after each use.
We will be following guidelines for social distancing by roping off every other pew, maintaining space between individuals and 6 feet between parties, and limiting attendance to 50% of the Church’s capacity. The doors will be locked and a sign posted when capacity is reached.
We will be limiting physical contact as much as possible through elimination of the following: holy water fonts, receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, receiving the Precious Blood, use of hymnals, shaking hands, holding hands, and passing of the offertory baskets. There will be baskets at the entrances of the Church where you should drop your donations as you enter for Mass.
Those in line for Holy Communion will be spaced apart and wear masks until after they have received the host in their hand, at which point they will step aside, lift their mask to place the host in their mouth, and replace the mask before returning to their seat.
Hand sanitizing stations have been ordered, and sanitizer will be available at the doors. We encourage parishioners to bring their own small bottle of hand sanitizer to use immediately prior to receiving Holy Communion in the hand.
Face masks are required for everyone including children and are raised only to receive Holy Communion and then immediately replaced. We will try to provide masks for those who do not have one but everyone is encouraged to have their own. If we provide one for you take home and do not leave it at the Church. Masks do not protect the person wearing them; they protect those around them. Please wear a mask as an act of love for others by protecting them, since people with no symptoms may still be able to transmit disease.
We are using the CDC guidelines to determine if attending Mass in person is safe for you and for those around you. These will be posted on the Church doors as a reminder. You should NOT attend Mass if any of the following apply to you:
- Are sick or have an underlying condition
- Work with or care for high risk people
- Have been within 6 feet of a person with Covid 19 for at least 5 minutes or had direct contact with their mucus or saliva in the past 14 days
- Have had ANY of the following symptoms in the last 48 hours:
- Fever of 100.5 degrees or higher
- Fever symptoms like alternating chills and sweating
- Cough
- Trouble breathing, shortness of breath, or severe wheezing
- Muscle aches
- Diarrhea
- Sore throat
- Loss of smell or taste, or change in taste
- Headache
This is the current plan. As the situation and/or guidelines change, this plan will be re-evaluated and revised. Stay tuned!
May 31, 2020
Congratulations, Kennedy!
2020 6th Grader: Kennedy Hermsen
My name is Kennedy Hermsen. I live with my Grandma Laurie, Grandpa Steve, and my two brothers, Kade and Keaton. We have a dog named McCoy, and he is my best friend. My favorite hobby is playing sports, and my number one sport is basketball. I have played on an AAU basketball team called Team Iowa for two years. I have a great coach and great teammates. It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy playing volleyball for Monti Heat in Monticello. The things I like most about Sacred Heart are the students, staff, and the bond that we all have. The things I will miss most are my friends, the lunches, Leo, Fr. Paul, Mr. Westhoff, Mrs. Lampe, and our weekly masses together. Thank you to all Sacred Heart staff, mostly Ms. Schlueter, for helping us finish school work and for helping us be able to share these memories with the rest of our parish.
Coronavirus Update
May 21, 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I have been in consultation with the Archbishop along with members of the Councils from both parishes and a decision has been made to postpone the reopening of our two parishes until the weekend of June 6th & 7th. This will give us more time to prepare for the reopening without rushing things. I know that we want to get back to the public celebration of Holy Mass as soon as possible but we also want to reopen the Churches in a responsible way. Thank you for your understanding as we prepare to come together again on June 6th & 7th.
God bless you and please stay safe,Fr. Paul
May 20, 2020
April 4, 2020
Good Friday Prayer
Archbishop Gomez, president of the USCCB, will lead the nation in praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Good Friday, 10 April 2020, at 11 am Central Time, to seek healing for all who are unwell, wisdom for those whose work is halting the spread of coronavirus, and strength for all God’s children.
A livestream will be available at lacatholics.org/sacred-heart or facebook.com/usccb. The prayer, in both English and Spanish, can be found at lacatholics.org/sacred-heart.
By a special grant from the Vatican, a plenary indulgence is available for those who join Archbishop Gomez in praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart on Good Friday.
A plenary Indulgence removes all of the temporal punishment due to sins, and may be applied to oneself or to the souls of the deceased.
To receive this indulgence, the faithful need to: pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on Good Friday; be truly repentant of any sins they have committed and receive the sacrament of reconciliation (at the earliest opportunity); and pray for Pope Francis’ intentions.
Streaming information and the daily update from the Archdiocese.
March 16, 2020
Message from Archbishop Jackels, to the Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, regarding the coronavirus
After consultation and considerable prayer, it has been decided – out of an abundance of caution and with devotion to the common good – to take steps aimed at slowing down the spread of the coronavirus, to flatten the curve, as they say, so as not to overburden the healthcare system.
Therefore, beginning on 19 March 2020 and until further notice, the following provisions have been taken:
· All public celebrations of Holy Mass are cancelled. All Catholics in the Archdiocese of Dubuque are dispensed from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass.
· The Chrism Mass will be celebrated, but with only the liturgical ministers present. The oils will be blessed, bottled, and distributed in some way to the parishes.
· During this time, the Archbishop will live stream a celebration of Holy Mass each Sunday, as well as the Chrism Mass (and the Triduum, if the situation has not changed by then), and will lead the Rosary each week on Thursday. Visit www.DBQArch.org for more information about these live streamed events.
· The existing schedule for Confirmation is cancelled (the Archbishop’s office will contact the parishes to reschedule).
· Funerals, Weddings and Baptisms may be held, but limited to the immediate family, or at least no more than 50 people present, according to the current CDC guidelines.
· Communal penance services should not be held. The present circumstances do not constitute the grave necessity required for use of general absolution. Private, one-on-one confession can be scheduled by appointment.
· All archdiocesan-sponsored events where 50+ people are gathered are cancelled.
Pray to God for speedy deliverance from the evil of the coronavirus, for those who are sick or who live in fear of infection, for those who care for the sick and elderly, for those whose lives and livelihood are adversely affected by the spread of the virus, and that we might all remain calm and confident in God’s wisdom, power, and goodness.
Conscious of our great need, and confident of God’s loving care, with the above intentions in mind, all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Dubuque are invited to join in a day of fast, abstinence, and prayer on Wednesday, 25 March 2020; this is voluntary, not obligatory.
On that day, people ordinarily bound on Ash Wednesday to fast (only one full meal, taking less at the other meals) and abstain from meat are invited to make those same sacrifices. And as far as prayer is concerned, the Rosary is recommended as a powerful prayer, prayed alone or with others.
God, come to our assistance. Lord, make haste to help us. Mary, health of the sick, pray for us. St. Raphael, patron of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, and patron of healing, pray for us.–
Call to Stewardship 2020
Here is the Call to Stewardship 2020 Pamphlet and Form
Brother Craig Digmann’s Podcast
Brother Craig Digmann has sent a link to two Podcasts that will give us a better idea of what he is doing in Sneedville, Tennessee.
How do you build the Catholic Church in the remote areas of the South? Brother Craig Digmann of the Glenmary Home Missioners discusses his ministry in very rural Hancock Co., Tenn.
http://insidethedioceseofknoxville.libsyn.com/brother-craig-digmann
The first Catholic Mass in Union County, Tenn., was celebrated in a carport in 2011. From those very humble beginnings, a parish church now exists. Father Steve Pawelk, a Glenmary priest who has led St. Teresa of Kolkata Parish and St. John Paul II Mission, joins Jim Wogan for this edition of Inside the Diocese of Knoxville.
http://insidethedioceseofknoxville.libsyn.com/father-steve-pawelk-glenmary-priest
Our Stations New Home
On behalf of all the parishioners of St. Cornelius Church in Homer, Nebraska, thank you for the kind gift of the Stations of the Cross! To let you know a little bit more about us, we are a small parish about 10 minutes from Sioux City, Iowa. On Saturday evenings, we have around 40 people at Mass. St. Cornelius is connected to three other parishes in Winnebago, Macy, and Walthill that serve the people of the Omaha and Winnebago Indian Reservations. If you are ever in the area, you are always welcome to worship with us. Once again, thank you and God bless.
—Fr. Mark Beran, Pastor
