Last week, we reported that St. Michael's has established a Re-Opening Advisory Committee, charged with fulfilling the requirements from the Diocese which are outlined in a document entitled "A Journey by Stages". The Advisory Committee has begun its work to meet the expectations published in the Guidelines.  As you are also aware, the Commonwealth has moved to Stage 2 allowing more businesses and organizations to re-open including houses of worship on or after July 1, with no more than 40% attendance, socially distanced, and other mandated protocols. 

This week, the Diocese issued a more specific checklist that all Episcopal churches in the Diocese must follow in order to resume in-person worship. One additional component included is approval from the diocese via an application and visit from a diocesan team to St. Michael's, to sign off on the necessary steps and plans. These documents can be found on the diocesan website at www.diomass.org.

The protocols issued in the checklist are to ensure the health and safety of all parishioners and staff.  The Advisory Committee met last Thursday afternoon and examined this newly distributed checklist. Our unanimous decision was that the details contained within the guidelines are doable but will require much time and effort to fulfill. This was shared with the Vestry on Thursday evening.  The Vestry and Advisory Committee are in agreement that St. Michael's will not re-gather for public worship within the church until early September.  We will continue to offer online services in the meantime.

For those who have concerns about regathering in church, this perhaps comes as no great surprise. However, we appreciate the disappointment that many may feel about this conclusion. Some have become accustomed to the flexibility that comes with online worship, but many have missed seeing fellow parishioners and participating in a service in our beautiful Sanctuary. Members of the Committee certainly share all of these feelings. We are aware of many churches in the Diocese that have already stated that they will not open until September.  We are not alone. A number of other houses of worship in Marblehead are also following similar timelines.  Please be assured that we will continue to work toward our goal of re-opening safely as soon as we possibly can.

The Reopening Advisory Team