COVID-19 Community Cancellations & Updates

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS

• All Dignity/Washington in-person activities are cancelled for the foreseeable future.
• We are in the process of producing a virtual Sunday Mass (3/22 and each Sunday going forward) via Facebook and YouTube. These recorded Masses will be available on both sites Sunday afternoon and can be viewed without any membership. 
• Lenten Soup Night Series: If you are interested in participating virtually, please contact Denis Pringle or Jeff Vomund for specific details.
• We are preparing an outreach to senior community member who live alone and may need some sort of assistance.
• The Pastoral Care team is available to help any member who might be having difficulty coping with this crisis. Please contact us at 202-546-2235 and select Option #2 to leave a confidential message. Someone from our Pastoral Care Team will be in touch with you.
• In lieu of receiving weekly donations during the Sunday collection, The Board of Directors encourages you to make financial donations as described in the Bulletin.

March 12, 2020
The Dignity/Washington Executive Committee along with the Liturgy Committee is reevaluating the latest developments in the DC area in response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

In order to ensure as best we can the physical safety of our members, many of whom are in the high-risk category due to the impact of the virus on older Americans, and due to our responsibility as a community of faith to help stop the spread of the virus in the DC area, the Executive Committee made the following decisions:

• Mass this Sunday (March 15th) is CANCELED.
  We will reevaluate the situation Monday to determine if we can offer Mass at the Dignity Center the following Sunday (March 22nd). Two considerations:
  • Evaluating and upgrading the cleanliness of the Center to allow a safer environment for gatherings;
  • Consider live streaming the mass from the Center involving only a few people who are healthy.
• The Lenten Simple Suppers Thursday evenings will continue as scheduled at this time.
• The St. Patrick’s Day Parade (March 15) has been postponed by the organizers.
• The St. Joseph’s Day Dinner (March 28) is postponed,
  due to the closure of all Episcopal buildings at least until March 29 (the day after our scheduled dinner); a new date for the dinner has not yet been
  determined.

The decision to cancel Mass was not made lightly. March 11, the Episcopal bishops in the DC metropolitan areas announced the closure all Episcopalian buildings for two weeks (including St. Margaret’s). Furthermore, Mayor Muriel Bowser declared of a “state of emergency” in the District of Columbia. These actions forced the Executive Committee to act and respond. Part of our discussion included the possibility that someone in our community or Dignity/Northern Virginia may have already been exposed to the virus and may yet become asymptomatic. We are following the lead of those bishops and the Mayor’s office to act out of an abundance of caution.

As President, I ask for your continued prayers and support for all our members in both Dignity communities and for everyone in the world actually who have been impacted by the virus. Though it may not be prudent to meet in person temporarily, our collective prayers and concern will have an impact. And keeping ourselves and our communities healthy will be the best sign of Christ in our lives. Thank you and we appreciate your cooperation.

Daniel Barutta
President, Dignity/Washington