While it is great to be back home from vacation, it was a disappointment to see an increase in COVID cases with this new Delta variant. On Tuesday, we were notified of the new Santa Clara County health order for wearing masks for all indoor activities again. This does not change our current policy here at St. Simon Parish for wearing masks at Masses as we never changed our policy in that regard. As we want to welcome all families to attend Mass, we will continue to wear masks to protect our children from the virus.
Indeed, I thank you for your continued support in this regard. I am delighted to see that everyone complied with this request over the weekend, and I thank you for that witness. It means a great deal to the children to be able to come to Church and when we wear masks, we are protecting them from a potential spread.
It was originally my intention to open the Parish office after Labor Day weekend and restart meetings inside and resume a more normal way of life at the parish. However, we will need to wait and see how the Delta variant affects the spread of the virus and make that decision after Labor Day as how we proceed further. At this point we will continue to keep focused on restoring our attendance at Mass and keep all other activities to a minimum and outdoor if at all possible.
We will still have the Fall BBQ on September 11 as it will be outdoor. We ask everyone to wear masks except while eating or drinking and please enjoy the activities and seeing each other again. This is an important community builder so please join us.
Please remember that in addition to wearing a mask, vaccination continues to be our best defense against COVID-19 infection and harm that it can do to our community. I would like to encourage those who have not yet been vaccinated to please do so when possible. As the County and medical experts say: “Vaccines are safe, effective and free.” May we all do our part to protect each other from serious illness especially those most vulnerable.
God bless,
Fr. Brendan