To my Parishioners:

     As most of you know the Governor has cancelled school for the next three weeks, has restricted public gatherings to under 100, and has encouraged all public gatherings to be cancelled.  This does not affect public worship.
     At this point we are planning to keep our current Mass, Confession, Stations of the Cross, and Adoration schedule. Virtually all other parish activities will be cancelled beginning with this weekend. So for the next three weeks there will be no PSR, no coffee hour, no Men's Ministry, no Health Ministry, or other parish groups, studies or meetings. At the end of those three weeks we will look to our Governor and Bishop for guidance depending on what is occurring with pandemic. Please see the important statement from the Ohio Catholic Conference posted earlier this morning. It includes the following statement: "...To that end, we dispense the Catholic faithful who reside in Ohio and all other Catholics currently in Ohio from the obligation of attending Sunday Mass for the weekends of March 14-15, March 21-22 and March 28-29. Out of charity and concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we encourage all the faithful, in particular those who are sick, experiencing symptoms of illness, or are at risk of illness seriously to consider refraining from Mass attendance."  

     This next paragraph is really for only those who may be asking,
“Why do we need to go to such extremes, especially as many of our groups have only a handful of people meeting at a given time?” 
     Many of us have grown skeptical as to the extent of the problem especially as we compare it to the flu.  However, a quick story may help us understand why Governor DeWine is taking these seemingly drastic measures and why we are following his intention of reducing the amount of interaction among persons.   A man who used to attend St. Peter’s when he was in Ohio as an exchange student is now a doctor in Italy.  1 ½ weeks ago, one of the parishioners called him to solicit advice on whether another parishioner who was in a study abroad program in Italy should remain.  He told her that where they were, the risk was very low, only six confirmed cases and that he recommended she just stay out the term in Italy.  Thursday of this week our parishioner contacted him again to see how things were going.  Later she received a voicemail from him.  She said his voice was very tremulous and that he said their hospital where he works is being overrun.  He said the ICU has no more beds now. Worst of all, he said they are doing what he thought he would never need to do, rationing who gets treatment.  Those over 80 are being denied any needed surgeries, respirators, etc. because the healthcare system is stretched beyond its capacity.  He said if it continues for another week, that age number will drop to 65!  This radical change happened in the course of a week and a half!  This kind of rapidity and ability to overpower the healthcare system is why Governor DeWine is requesting that we slow it down as well as we can by limiting our interactions with other persons.  If they can just slow down the rapidity of spread, our healthcare system can handle it. If not, we may see things like Italy is seeing.   This is why we are cooperating as well as we can even if it causes inconveniences at this time. 
     We want to assist in creating a new, temporary culture of limited interaction among persons.
      Please join me in praying for a quick end to the pandemic, as well as for the sick, our healthcare workers, and our government leaders. 

In Christ,
Fr. Hahn