We understand that, even though churches are now open and our celebration of Holy Mass seems to be returning to pre-pandemic normal practices, there can be concerns and even confusion.
Below you will find answers to Frequently Asked Questions about attending Mass at Holy Name of Jesus.
If you find that your question is not included, please call the parish office and ask us.
No reservations needed! Seating will open 20 minutes before Mass, and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
We recommend that you ARRIVE 20 MINUTES BEFORE MASS.
As of May 2021, we may welcome more people - up to 50% of our church capacity.
Out of love for one another, we ask all persons to wear a face mask while attending ALL in-person services:
Please keep your mask on - covering your nose and mouth - while on campus. This includes keeping your mask on for the entirety of the Mass.
Bring your open heart, and a missalette if you have one.
The parish provides hand sanitizer at the church entrances. Please sanitize your hands upon entry.
For Masses held in our covered patio at our Columbia St location, the parish also provides chairs.
Overflow seating is offered in the parking lot; while we do supply chairs, you are also welcome to bring your own.
As of May 1st, we are seating persons in every other pew.
Closed pews are discreetly marked with blue tape and small signs - on the seats!
Please do NOT sit in a closed pew unless you are directed to do so by an usher. Thank you.
Our friendly ushers are happy to assist you with finding a seat. They have been trained to assist everyone in maintaining social distancing and allowing for the current church capacity. As such, the ushers may ask you to sit in a closed pew; and, they may ask you to help maintain distance by remaining at the end of the row. Please kindly follow their instructions.
Each of our churches and our patio provides seating for those who struggle with walking distances and those in wheelchairs.
Please note: Communion Ministers will come to your seat if you advise one of our friendly ushers before Mass.
Olive Avenue Church:
We recommend parking on Olive Avenue in front of the church; or on Eureka St near the side door. We are using the doors on Olive Avenue for our main entrance.
Special seating and space for wheelchairs is located in the SIDE WINGS NEAR THE ALTAR.
Columbia St Church:
We recommend parking on Columbia St in front of the church, or in the handicapped spaces between the church and the patio.
Special seating and space for wheelchairs is located on either side of the main aisle in the CENTER OF THE CHURCH.
Columbia St Patio:
The usual handicapped spaces in the parking lot will be blocked for overflow seating.
We recommend parking directly inside the parking lot directly behind the Patio. Handicapped spaces have been added here.
Special seating and space for wheelchairs is located NEAR THE ALTAR.
As of May 2021, we have resumed offering our monetary gifts to the Lord at the regular time -
while the Priest is preparing the altar for the Eucharistic Prayer.
Our friendly ushers will accept your offering using long-handled baskets.
If you have not yet arranged recurring online donations, you may also make an online offering at this time.
You may use either option below with your Smart Phone:
1) Download the free app: "ONLINE GIVING" by Our Sunday Visitor and register for our parish.
2) visit our website's donation page: Donate Online
Offertory envelopes are available near the ENTRANCES of the churches.
You may pick up an envelope or ask an usher for assistance before Mass.
We are now accepting offerings during the time when the Priest is preparing the altar for the Eucharistic Prayer.
If you have not yet arranged recurring online donations, you may also make an online offering at this time.
You may use either option below with your Smart Phone:
1) Download the free app: "ONLINE GIVING" by Our Sunday Visitor and register for our parish.
2) visit our website's donation page: Donate Online
Please note: If you struggle with walking distances, or if you are in a wheelchair, our churches and patio provide special seating areas for your convenience. Communion Ministers will come to your seat if you advise one of our friendly ushers before Mass.
The Church understands the Communion Procession, in fact every procession in liturgy, as a sign of the pilgrim Church, the body of those who believe in Christ, on their way to the Heavenly Jerusalem. All our lives we who believe in Christ are moving in time toward that moment when we will be taken by death from this world and enter into the joy of the Lord in the eternal Kingdom he has prepared for us.
At Christ's invitation, extended by the priest acting in Christ's person: "Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb," the members of the community move forward to share in the sacred meal, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ which is the sign and the source of their unity. In fact, each time we move forward together to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord, we join the countless ranks of all the baptized who have gone before us, our loved ones, the canonized and uncanonized saints down through the ages, who at their time in history formed a part of this mighty stream of believers.
Our procession should move with dignity; our bearing should be that of those who know they have been redeemed by Christ and are coming to receive their God!
Read more: US Bishop's Website
The person distributing Communion says audibly to each person approaching, "The Body of Christ."
This is a proclamation which calls for a response of faith on the part of the one who receives.
The communicant should audibly respond, "Amen," indicating by that response his or her belief that this small wafer of bread, the wine in this chalice are in reality the body and blood of Christ the Lord.
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1396:
In Baptism we have been called to form but one body. The Eucharist fulfills this call: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:16-17):
"If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your sacrament that you receive. To that which you are you respond “Amen” (“yes, it is true!”) and by responding to it you assent to it. For you hear the words, “the Body of Christ” and respond “Amen.” Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be true."
(St. Augustine, Sermon 272: PL 38, 1247).
Read more here: US Bishop's Website
Those who receive Communion may receive either in the hand or on the tongue, and the decision should be that of the individual receiving, not of the person distributing Communion.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal asks each country's Conference of Bishops to determine the posture to be used for the reception of Communion and the act of reverence to be made by each person as he or she receives Communion. In the United States, the body of Bishops determined that Communion should be received standing, and that a bow is the act of reverence made by those receiving.
The significance of unity in posture and gesture as a symbol of our unity as members of the one body of Christ should be the governing factor in our own actions.
It is difficult for some of us to embrace the emphasis on Mass as the action of a community rather than an individual act of my own faith and piety, but it is important that we make every effort to do so. Over and over again the prayers of the liturgy and the norms of the General Instruction emphasize this fundamental concept of the unity of the baptized, stressing that when we come together to participate in the Eucharistic celebration we come, not as individuals, but as united members of Christ's Body.
Christ himself at the Last Supper pleaded with his Father: "Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are... as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us..." (John 17:11, 21). Baptism has joined us to Christ and to one another as the vine and its branches. The life of Christ, the Holy Spirit, animates each of us individually, and all of us corporately and guides us together in our efforts to become one in Christ.
Read more here: US Bishop's Website
As of May 2021, we have resumed the Communion Procession to the altar. We ask that you kindly wait for the ushers to release your pew to process to the altar.
Please KEEP YOUR FACE MASK ON while processing to and from the altar.
You may receive the Communion Host from the Priest, the Deacon, or the Lay Eucharistic Minister.
The Communion Host is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist does not change based on the person who distributes it during the Mass.
To receive in the hand:
Please KEEP YOUR MASK ON on when approaching the Priest, Deacon, or Eucharistic Minister.
Make a reverent bow.
Present your open hands in a cupped fashion: place your weaker hand directly over your dominant hand. By doing so, you create a paten and altar with your hands, and better safeguard the Host from being accidentally dropped.
Respond, "Amen", to the Minister's proclamation, "the Body of Christ".
After receiving the Host in your hands, please:
To receive on the tongue:
Make a reverent bow when you approach the Priest, Minister, or Eucharistic Minister.
Respond, "Amen", to the Minister's proclamation, "the Body of Christ".
Please LOWER or REMOVE YOUR MASK and stick out your tongue.
The minister will place the host on your tongue.
Afterward, please REPLACE YOUR MASK over your nose and mouth BEFORE returning to your seat
Please note:
All Ministers sanitize their hands before serving anyone Communion.
Each Minister will also sanitize his hands after serving the Host on a communicant's tongue and before serving another communicant.
As of May 2021, our ushers will no longer release pews for exiting the churches.
Our Priests ask that you kindly exit the churches during or after the Closing Song.
Please be mindful of maintaining distance between families.
Please exit the church promptly so we can clean and sanitize the church in preparation for the next Mass.
his does take some time, so we greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation!
If you desire time for private prayer, we recommend that you arrive EARLY for Mass.
Seating is available 20 minutes before Mass.
After Mass concludes, we ask all persons to exit the church promptly so we can clean and sanitize the church in preparation for the next Mass. This does take some time, so we greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
During Masses at both locations, the church doors will remain closed. Air conditioning and/heating will be used as needed.
Because of this, overflow seating for Masses inside the churches will not be available after we reach the maximum capacity permitted (50% capacity May 2021).
We do offer Masses in our open, covered Patio at Columbia St with overflow seating in the parking lot:
Sundays: 9:00 AM - Spanish; 11:00 AM - English
Restrooms are available; however, our small restrooms are limited to allow one person at a time.
We highly recommend that you use restroom facilities before arriving for Mass, if possible.
Wheelchair Accessibility:
The restrooms in our churches are a bit small for wheelchair accessibility. We are willing to open the Parish Hall at Olive Ave, or the Patio at Columbia St to assist you.
Olive Avenue Church:
Women's Restroom is located through the Cry Room to the LEFT as your face the altar.
Men's Restroom is located through the Cry Room to the RIGHT as you face the altar.
Columbia St Church:
Women's and Men's Restrooms are located to the LEFT of the entrance.
Columbia St Patio:
Women's and Men's Restrooms are located behind the last row of benches.
Due to pandemic food handling restrictions, we cannot yet offer Hospitality after Mass.
We kindly ask that you gather in the Church Courtyards for Fellowship - not inside the Churches or in the Columbia St Patio.
Please continue to wear your masks and practice social distancing between households.
After Mass concludes, we ask all persons to exit the church promptly so we can clean and sanitize the church in preparation for the next Mass. This does take some time, so we greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation.