A note from Fr. Jim Golka May 1 2020
I would like to add my personal note to express both my great desire for you to be able to gather with us for the celebration of the Eucharist and my concern for our physical health as the pandemic continues to affect our community. There is no greater joy for me than the experience of sharing Communion with our Lord as a parish family. At the same time, I appreciate Bishop Hanefeldt’s concern for the physical safety and well-being of those of us living in the Grand Island community. Public masses will not be possible for us yet. May 30th is the earliest possible date for a return, but that will be reevaluated as we draw closer to that time.
I have been in communication with local physicians who confirm that our cases of coronavirus patients continue to rise. Because of this I do not believe it would be safe for us to offer public times for Confessions or Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. As we stated before, Pope Francis encourages parishioners to make a perfect Act of Contrition on a daily basis with the firm resolve to go to confession once it is available. In the meanwhile, we will hear confessions on an emergency basis by appointment.
Our parish staff is beginning plans for the time when we can gather again for public sacraments. Both the Governor of Nebraska and Bishop have offered stipulations and procedures to which we must adhere.
Let’s continue to pray for each other during this difficult time.
In Christ,
Fr. Jim Golka Rector
Una nota del P. Jim Golka
Me gustaría agregar mi nota personal para expresar tanto mi gran deseo que tengo de que ustedes puedan reunirse con nosotros para la celebración de la Eucaristía y mi preocupación por nuestra salud física a medida que la pandemia continúa afectando a nuestra comunidad. No hay mayor alegría para mí que la experiencia de compartir la comunión con nuestro Señor como familia parroquial. Al mismo tiempo, aprecio la preocupación del obispo Hanefeldt por la seguridad física y el bienestar de aquellos de nosotros que vivimos en la comunidad de Grand Island. Las misas públicas aún no serán posibles para nosotros. El 30 de mayo es la fecha más próxima posible para un regreso, pero eso será reevaluado a medida que nos acerquemos a ese momento.
He estado en comunicación con médicos locales que confirman que nuestros casos de pacientes con coronavirus continúan aumentando. Debido a esto, no creo que sea seguro para nosotros ofrecer momentos públicos para Confesiones o Adoración del Santísimo Sacramento. Como dijimos antes, el Papa Francisco alienta a los feligreses a hacer un acto de contrición perfecto a diario con la firme resolución de confesarse una vez que esté disponible. Mientras tanto, escucharemos confesiones de emergencia con cita previa.
Nuestro personal parroquial está comenzando planes para cuando podamos reunirnos nuevamente para los sacramentos públicos. Tanto el gobernador de Nebraska como Bishop han ofrecido estipulaciones y procedimientos a los que debemos adherirnos.
Sigamos orando los unos por los otros durante este momento difícil.
En Cristo,
El P. Jim Golka, Rector
Please read the Bishop letter on the right for all other cancellations
A prayer in this time of the coronavirus
Lord Jesus Christ, our Divine Physician, we ask you to guard and protect us from Coronavirus COID-19 and from all serious illness. For all those who have died from it, have mercy; for those who are ill now, bring healing. For those searching for a remedy, enlighten them; for medical caregivers helping the sick, strengthen and shield them. For those working to contain the spread, grant them success; for those afraid, grant peace. May your precious blood be our defense and our salvation. By your grace, may you turn the evil of disease into moments of consolation and hope. May we always fear the contagion of sin more than any illness. We abandon ourselves to your infinite mercy.
Amen
. -- Pedro de la Cruz
There have been multiple reports from parishes and from other dioceses that many priests are being impersonated by phishers and scammers trying to convince parishioners to send them gift cards or gift card numbers.
What these phishers and scammers do is obtain priest and parishioner information from different sources. They then use the information to impersonate the priest and send out emails requesting gift card numbers. When phone numbers are available, fake texts have been sent also.
Please be aware of these types of phishing attacks and scams! If you receive any messages requesting gift cards or gift card numbers, or even a text that says something like, “I need a favor from you, please text me back as soon as possible”, and the sender claims to be me, it is a phishing attempt. You can contact the parish to let us know of the phishing attempt. You may want to report this attempt to the authorities. See www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing for more details.
You should never email or text the numbers from a gift card. Once a scammer has that information, they can immediately drain the gift card and make it worthless.
If I or the parish ever needs assistance or if I am asking for a donation, I typically will write, call, or visit with you in person. Unless you are expecting me to request assistance or a donation by email or text message, you should confirm that I really am making this request. That confirmation should be made by any other means besides replying to the suspicious email or text you received (which would go back to the scammer).
If you have any questions about this scam, you are welcome to contact the parish offices.
Fr. Jim Golka
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Welcome to St. Mary's Cathedral, the Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Island and the seat of its Bishop. Our pastoral, educational, cultural, and community outreach programs serve the needs of a diverse town, nation and world. We invite you to become part of the spiritual renewal that awaits all who walk through our doors.
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Has been cancelled until further notice
Times for the Rosary, Adoration, Divine Mercy chaplet and more can be found here.
March 17 2020 Fr. Jim Golka
Greetings parishioners of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Following President Trump’s statement today on St. Patrick’s Day – Bishop Hanefeldt and leaders of the Diocese of Grand Island have suspended the celebration of all Sacraments until at least Monday, April 16, 2020. This will give our diocese 20 days to try and “flatten the curve” of people diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus.
This means that we will not offer public masses. We are asked to also suspend the celebration of weddings, baptisms, quinceaneras, and confessions as well as Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Each priest is asked to offer a daily private mass for the intention of the day. If there is no intention listed, we will offer the mass for the cease of the virus outbreak.
During this time, we are asked to not offer communion to the faithful. If a priest or Eucharistic minister has been infected, they may inadvertently pass along the virus to the communicant.
The Cathedral church will remain open each day from 6 am until 9 pm. People are encouraged to pray in their homes and to stay home as much as possible. If you choose to come to the Cathedral to pray, we ask that you maintain a distance from other worshipers and take caution against possible contamination of the doors and handrails.
I was in the meeting in which these issues were discussed. As a priest and pastor, it is incredibly difficult to suspend any celebration of the Sacraments of our Church. I know that we have had times in our history when the Church has had lengthy times in which reception of the Sacraments was suspended. I encourage you to consider this time as a time of fasting from the Sacramental life of the Church. Instead we are encouraged to turn to the many “sacramentals” which our church offers. If you do not have a “home altar” or “prayer room” I encourage you to create one. In that space you can pray the sacramentals such as the rosary, chaplet of divine mercy, liturgy of the hours or praying the readings of the daily mass.
We hope to make available my private celebration of the mass via our Facebook page and other social media. You are also welcome to watch the mass as a family – especially on Sundays. Mass is offered on EWTN at 7 am, 11 am and 11 pm. A more local mass is offered on the ABC Channel 8 at 9 am. You can watch a Spanish mass on catholictv.org.
Do not hesitate to call the parish office if you are in need of pastoral care. Even thought the regular celebration of the sacraments is suspended – we can always offer them in times of emergency or personal danger.
May God bless us all! Fr. Jim Golka
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4-29*2020 Coronavirus Measures for the
Diocese of Grand Island
(English and Spanish)
From: Bishop Joseph G. Hanefeldt
Date: April 29, 2020
Re: Diocesan Policy for the Re-Opening of Churches
This morning I met (via Zoom conferencing) with Kathy Hahn, Fr. Jim Golka and Fr. Matt Koperski to discuss how we might proceed with the governor’s flexible re-opening of faith-based services in our diocese, beginning May 4th. I am also grateful for the input offered from various members of the Presbyteral Council.
Let me say that while some parishioners are eager to re-open, many others feel that May 4 is simply too soon. Some priests have advocated that all parishes remain closed until we can all re-open at the same time. Some are concerned that if there is a partial opening, people will travel from areas that remain closed to parishes that have re-opened.
With this new policy below, it is my desire to recognize the vast differences between some places like Hall County and Dawson County that have very high incidences of the COVID-19 virus and the many other places that have few if any cases of the infection.
Therefore, anticipating the governor’s re-opening date of May 4th, and as of that day, I am establishing the following measures:
The Dispensation from the Sunday and Holy Day Obligation remains in force. A limited opening (as of May 4) of Catholic Churches is permitted in those areas where few if any confirmed COVID-19 virus cases have been reported, but only by following the Instructions that are attached to this document. Furthermore, this re-opening is for liturgical celebrations only, and not for educational, social or outreach activities. This limited opening is permitted for parishes in the following counties: Sioux, Dawes, Box Butte, Sheridan, Cherry, Brown, Rock, Wheeler, Garfield, Greeley, Valley, Sherman, Logan, Thomas, Hooker, Grant, Keith, Garden, Morrill, Deuel, Cheyenne and Kimball. (Should confirmed cases begin to increase in these areas, new closings should be anticipated.)
De: Obispo Joseph G. Hanefeldt
Fecha: 29 de abril del 2020
Re: Política Diocesana para la Reapertura de las Iglesias
Esta mañana me reuní (a través de conferencias de Zoom) con Kathy Hahn, el Padre. Jim Golka y el P. Matt Koperski para analizar cómo podríamos proceder con la reapertura flexible del gobernador de los servicios basados en la fe en nuestra diócesis, a partir del 4 de mayo. También estoy agradecido por el aporte ofrecido por varios miembros del Consejo Presbiteral.
Permítanme decir que mientras algunos feligreses están ansiosos por volver a abrir, muchos otros sienten que el 4 de mayo es demasiado pronto. Algunos sacerdotes han abogado para que todas las parroquias permanezcan cerradas hasta que todos podamos volver a abrir al mismo tiempo. A algunos les preocupa que, si hay una apertura parcial, la gente viajará desde áreas que permanecen cerradas hasta parroquias que se han reabierto.
Con esta nueva política a continuación, deseo reconocer las grandes diferencias entre algunos lugares como el Condado de Hall y el Condado de Dawson que tienen una incidencia muy alta del virus COVID-19 y muchos otros lugares que tienen pocos o ningún caso de infección.
Por lo tanto, anticipando la fecha de reapertura del gobernador del 4 de mayo y, a partir de ese día, estoy estableciendo las siguientes medidas:
• La Dispensación de la Obligación del Domingo y del Día Santo permanece vigente.
• Se permite una apertura limitada (a partir del 4 de mayo) de las iglesias católicas en aquellas áreas donde se han reportado pocos o ningún caso confirmado de virus COVID-19, pero solo siguiendo las instrucciones que se adjuntan a este documento. Además, esta reapertura es solo para celebraciones litúrgicas, y no para actividades educativas, sociales o de divulgación. Esta apertura limitada está permitida para parroquias en los siguientes condados: Sioux, Dawes, Box Butte, Sheridan, Cherry, Brown, Rock, Wheeler, Garfield, Greeley, Valley, Sherman, Logan, Thomas, Hooker, Grant, Keith, Garden, Morrill , Deuel, Cheyenne y Kimball. (Si los casos confirmados comienzan a aumentar en estas áreas, se deben anticipar nuevos cierres).
• NO SE PERMITE LA REAPERTURA de las iglesias católicas hasta el 30 de mayo en aquellos condados donde el número de casos confirmados de virus COVID-19 todavía está aumentando o experimentando un aumento significativo. Los católicos que viven en estas áreas no deben migrar a parroquias abiertas. Esta política de NO ABRIR es para parroquias en los siguientes condados: Hall, Howard, Buffalo, Dawson, Custer, Lincoln y Scottsbluff. (Si el número de casos confirmados disminuye significativamente en estas áreas antes del 30 de mayo, tal vez podría tener lugar una reapertura).
Además, no tienen que volver a abrir su parroquia en este momento, si creen que sería inseguro hacerlo. Esta política anticipa su mejor juicio pastoral sobre la reapertura en áreas que pueden estar libres de virus o con solo unos pocos casos confirmados.
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