St. John the Baptist

May 23, 2020 - Back in His Presence
St. John the Baptist continues to work with Bishop Malloy and the Diocese of Rockford toward the reopening of churches for public Mass and worship. For up-to-date information from the Bishop, including his video “Directives for the Faithful to Return to Mass,” please click here. 
 
May 13, 2020 - Bishop Malloy Annouces Plans to Reopen Churches for Public Mass
St. John's has begun implementing the protocol of the plan and will update you upon its progress. 

Statement from Bishop David Malloy

Executive Summary (Attachment to previous statement)
 

Click the link below to visit St. John's School website!
https://www.stjohnschool.com/

May 30, 2020 ** UPDATE**
Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health issued  new guidance for places of public worship and providers of religious services. That guidance has, in effect, recognized that religious communities have the responsibility for establishing conditions to protect the safety of the faithful and of the wider community as opportunities for prayer and the sacraments, including the Mass, are made available.
 
Though the Bishop welcomes this news, as we are sure you do, he continues to remind us that the danger presented by the coronavirus remains among us. Therefore, St. John the Baptist Parish has been directed by the Diocese of Rockford to continue to follow the diocesan protocol in reopening the Church. 
 
With that in mind, we want to inform you that plans to open the parish for liturgical service will start next weekend. We are working to finalize schedules and volunteers to assist with the Diocesan directives. Mass schedule details will be made available by Thursday, 6-4-20. As we learn more, we will continue to update the situation. We are remaining hopeful and flexible in these continuously changing circumstances. Thank you for your patience with this process.

May 24, 2020
St. John’s reopening committee met this weekend and is aggressively working on a reopening plan that will meet the guidelines of the Rockford Diocese.  We know you are all excited about returning to the sacraments and we are working hard to make this happen as soon as possible within the limitations provided by the Bishop. There is a healthy amount of work that needs take place before restarting liturgical activities. As such we need your help.
 
A Parishioner Response Team is being developed to help support ongoing needs due to the
special circumstances of COVID 19.
 
We are looking for healthy individuals under the age of 65 who are not considered at risk to support:
·       Sanitizing the church before and after liturgical service
·       Receiving parishioners, welcoming, and explaining new guidelines as they enter the church
·       Helping direct people to help maintain social distancing and the safety our fellow parishioners
 
If you are interested in helping be a part of the Response Team please send your contact info to:
reopenstjohns@gmail.com (Name, email, cell phone).
 
We are so happy and excited that we can finally work together as the body of Christ toward participating in the sacraments once again.  God Bless, stay healthy, and we hope to see all of you soon!
 

St. John's church bulletins are available by navigating to "The Faith" tab at the top of the screen and selecting "Church Bulletins". 

Bishop David Malloy will continue to post weekly devotionals on Wednesdays at 12 noon and Holy Mass on Sundays at 9 am on the Rockford Diocese website. All are encouraged to share in these posts! To navigate the diocesan website, click here. 

The Diocese of Rockford newspaper, The Observer is currently being offered at no charge during the Pandemic. Sign up for your free online subsciption at: http://observertoo.rockforddiocese.org/sub/account_login.php

All religious education classes, retreats, and events have been postponed until further notice. Please advise, parents will receive updates via email.