West Fork Catholic Community

WANTED: Part-time Director of Faith Formation at Immaculate Conception Church in Moville to be responsible for the faith formation programs of the parish and to facilitate a process for assessing the needs of the parish children and youth to develop appropriate goals and objectives for the total program. Religious Education knowledge, skill, and experience preferred with excellent communication skills. Must be a Roman Catholic in good standing. For more information please contact Angie Duffy at 712 873-3644

WANTED:  Part-time Director of Faith Formation at St. Michael Catholic Church in Kingsley to be responsible for the faith formation programs of the parish and to facilitate a process for assessing the needs of the parish children and youth to develop appropriate goals and objectives for the total program.  Religious Education knowledge, skill, and experience preferred with excellent communication skills.  Must be a Roman Catholic in good standing.  For more information please contact Barb Sitzmann at 712 251-8567
 
 

First and foremost, all the Faithful need to remember that the obligation to attend Mass is still dispensed through the end of the calendar year.  The Elderly and Vulnerable/High Risk parishioners should be reminded that it is not a mortal sin to miss Sunday Mass, even though it is being offered, and that it is preferable that they remain home at this time.  This also includes those who are 60 and older or anyone uncomfortable with attending.

The Bishop has recently authorized that all priests may open their primary Church for private prayer.  This will allow the doors at the Immaculate Conception Church to be open for 2 hours a day on 2 days of the week.  We will begin by opening the doors on Tuesday’s from 9-11 a.m. and Thursday’s from 1-3 p.m. beginning on Monday June 16^th.   We ask that you keep the number in attendance to no more than 10 people and limit your time to no more than ½ hour, if others are waiting, so more will be able to attend during these days. Adhering to the Safety guidelines, outlined below, must be followed while attending.  
 
With the most recent changes, beginning June 27^th and 28^th, we are able to return to Masses on Saturday’s night at 4pm and Sunday’s at 10am at the Immaculate Conception Church in Moville only.  The Church will open ½ hour before mass with the same procedures as above.

All the Faithful (over the age of 2) are required to wear a facemask (some available at the Church) and use hand sanitizer when entering the Church.  The Church will be open one half hour prior to Mass beginning and discourage any social gathers before or after the Service.  The ushers will be heavily relied on to ensure facemasks are worn and dispense hand sanitizer to all parishioners as they arrive.  They will ensure the parishioners are properly seated in the designated areas according to the social distancing guidelines.  The Church will have limited seating; however, the hall has been prepared for additional overflow allowing more parishioners to attend.

 After three months, Bishop Walker Nickless has lifted the suspension on public Masses in the Diocese of Sioux City. Beginning with the weekend of June 27/28, parishes will open for Masses at the discretion of their pastors. Masses were originally suspended in an unprecedented move March 16 in response to the deadly and rapidly-spreading COVID-19 virus.
Since the suspension of the Masses in March, the Diocese of Sioux City COVID task force and Bishop Nickless have been monitoring data points locally, statewide, regionally and nationally, including new coronavirus cases, hospital bed usage, ICU usage, patient usage of ventilators, projections of the spread of the virus and other data.
As of the establishment of the task force, the benchmark the bishop and the group has used in order to make the decision to return to public liturgy and other public parish events has always been a 14-day consistently downward trajectory in the above categories.
Observations by the Sioux City Diocese COVID-19 task force and the four dioceses of Iowa COVID-19 working group suggest that the numbers are slowly falling in Iowa with the Sioux City diocese having the largest number of recent new cases of the four Catholic dioceses. The tasks force believes a plateau has been met, the downward trajectory has begun and that the area will reach the 14-day benchmark in the multiple categories between June 20-24.
Data and metrics will be constantly monitored by the task force until such a time a vaccine goes onto the market.  If it appears that new cases, hospitalizations and other metrics begin to increase substantially it is possible that the diocesan churches and facilities will need to lock down once again. 
Once the suspension lifts and public Masses begin under the discretion of the individual pastors, priests of the diocese and the faithful will be following specific protocols outlined in May by the COVID task force for attending Mass. The protocols will include spacing pews, mandatory face masks, availability of hand sanitizer at the entrances of church, and the use of social distancing.
The obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains dispensed for Catholics in the Sioux City Diocese until the end of the calendar year. The elderly, more vulnerable and high-risk parishioners are reminded that although Mass is being offered it is recommended that they remain home at this time. However, Mass is open to all.
The June 27/28 suspension lifting by Bishop Nickless allows parishes, at the pastor’s discretion, to authorize weekend Masses, weddings, funerals and events at parish halls and facilities as long as practices such as social distancing, use of face masks and proper sanitization are followed with guidelines as determined by state public health officials.
As of July 6, Bishop Nickless will allow parishes, with the pastor’s discretion, to allow weekday public Masses two days per week. Also, churches may be open for two hours each day for five days per week, at the pastor’s discretion.
As of July 20, at the pastor’s discretion, parishes may return to their normal schedules.
The comprehensive list of the instructions for the resuming of the public celebration of Mass is available on the diocesan website at www.scdiocese.org.
 

Greetings and please share the following information!
 
Bishop Walker Nickless has authorized the opening of certain churches for private prayer in the diocese starting June 15. This is the first opening of church buildings since the bishop declared the suspension of public Masses and parish gatherings effective March 16 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
 
Msgr Mark will have the Immaculate Conception Church in Moville, home parish for the West Fork Catholic Community, open for private prayer starting Tuesday, June 16^th .
The Church will be is on Tuesdays from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. and Thursdays from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m..
 
Please enter by way of the South entrance of the Church and follow the safety guidelines set by the Diocese.  This consists of using hand sanitizer upon enter, wearing a facemask while inside and social distancing staying 6’ apart in the designated areas. 
 
When entering the Church, please choose a pew where the kneeler is in the upright position.  This will ensure the area is sanitized and has not been used prior to your arrival.  At the conclusion of your time, please leave the kneeler down to discourage others from using until that area can be sanitized again.
 
With the limitation of having no more than 10 people in the area, we need to limit your time to no more than ½ hour allowing all attending a chance to pray.
 
Thank you in advance as we slowly continue to upgrade access to the Churches.  We understand these are trying times for everyone and we hope by the Diocese opening the Church for Private Prayer, things will continue to improve as we get through this together.
 
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to give us a call.