We are aware that there is some confusion about the necessity of having to register each time you want to attend Mass here at St. James. We first implemented this policy back in May, when we were given the “go- ahead” by Archbishop Vigneron to resume having in-person church services at ¼ church capacity. We had no idea how many people would want to attend and so we instituted the pre-registration policy so we could monitor attendance. After a short time, it became clear that the numbers were small enough that we were not in danger of having to turn people away due to exceeding our approved capacity, and so we stopped printing lists and checking people in.
As we approached Christmas we realized that we might easily be overwhelmed by the influx of visitors and so reinstituted the need to preregister online.
Now that Christmas is past and we have not once come close to exceeding our capacity we feel confident in setting aside the need for folks to register online to attend any of our daily or weekend masses. In other words, if you want to come to mass, just show up, you are always welcome. Please remember that mask wearing and social distancing protocols are still in effect.
*If by some unforeseen circumstance we ever exceed the numbers we can safely have in the church both the chapel and parish social hall have been equipped with closed circuit tv and can be used to accommodate any overflow.