With only 20 ICU beds to serve over 120,000 residents in multiple counties, it’s imperative we do all we can to prevent community spread. “By restricting the number of people exposed to the virus at any one time, we can spread the number of cases over a longer length of time — hopefully enough time to manage health care staffing and resources better,” said Maggie Mann, Director.

Bishop Peter has urged us to comply with the stay-at-home order and to close our public campuses and buildings to the public. To do otherwise is to act recklessly and to put our larger community at risk. Apart from those who are helping us prepare and present our liturgies, parishioners are not to enter our sanctuaries at any time.

We know this is a painful sacrifice for our parishioners to not enter our houses of worship. But every difficulty has an opportunity to deepen our faith.
1) It can encourage us to create spaces of worship, prayer, and reflection in our homes and hearts,
2) to use this time of separation to deepen our appreciation for the many aspects of our faith, and
3) to pray in solidarity with those who live in places around the world that rarely if ever have had the access to the Sacraments we have enjoyed, or in some cases taken for granted.

In response to this extraordinary circumstance, we are doing our best to stream online liturgies and enriching content to help keep our community connected. We are developing a task force calling ministry to begin reaching out to those who are especially vulnerable in our parish. Please pray for all those who are risking their lives on the frontlines of this pandemic, for those suffering from the virus and their families, and for the souls who have already lost their lives.

SIPH website: https://www.siphidaho.org

Idaho Coronavirus website: https://coronavirus.idaho.gov

Pope Francis says pandemic can be a ‘place of conversion’ : https://www.thetablet.co.uk/…/pope-francis-says-pandemic-ca…