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Please download the worship aid from our Worship Aid page to follow along in prayer and song during Mass in the Church or from your homes.

Masks are strongly encouraged at all Masses at St. Ann’s due to the recent rise in COVID cases in Midland. As cases increase, so does the importance of keeping our nose and mouth covered when gathering. Masks and additional social distancing are required at the Saturday evening 5:00 p.m. Mass. Those with concerns about the recent disease trends or with underlying health conditions are encouraged to attend the Saturday evening Mass.

Please download the worship aid from our Worship Aid page to follow along in prayer and song during Mass in the Church or from your homes.

Masks are strongly encouraged at all Masses at St. Ann’s due to the recent rise in COVID cases in Midland. As cases increase, so does the importance of keeping our nose and mouth covered when gathering. Masks and additional social distancing are required at the Saturday evening 5:00 p.m. Mass. Those with concerns about the recent disease trends or with underlying health conditions are encouraged to attend the Saturday evening Mass.

Please download the worship aid from our Worship Aid page to follow along in prayer and song during Mass in the Church or from your homes.

Masks are strongly encouraged at all Masses at St. Ann’s due to the recent rise in COVID cases in Midland. As cases increase, so does the importance of keeping our nose and mouth covered when gathering. Masks and additional social distancing are required at the Saturday evening 5:00 p.m. Mass. Those with concerns about the recent disease trends or with underlying health conditions are encouraged to attend the Saturday evening Mass.

All of us are concerned about the situation of Covid in the Midland community. I want to assure our parishioners that we at St. Ann’s Parish are carefully monitoring the situation from every angle and adapting as needed.

It may be helpful for you to know that since Mother’s Day weekend of 2021, the Saturday evening 5:00pm Mass at St. Ann’s has required everyone to wear a mask and to practice social distancing of six feet between households. This past Saturday, only 123 people attended this Mass, so there is plenty of room for your family to attend, if you wish.

At all our other Masses, we encourage people to wear masks, we provide masks if they don’t have them, and we encourage social distance of three feet between households; but masks are not required. During our four Sunday Masses this past weekend, we had 1000 people attending Mass under these conditions. The Mass with the fewest people was Sunday at 5:00pm (only 150), so there was plenty of room for people to spread out.

Obviously, with 1100 people coming to Mass each weekend, there is hunger for worshipping together, so we don’t want to cancel Masses. As Catholics we believe in the centrality of the Eucharist. So we try to design the liturgy with many safety features in mind. We do offer one English and one Spanish Mass each weekend online. We constantly encourage people to get their vaccinations.

Secondly, according to the diocesan protocols, while the general dispensation from attending Mass on Sundays and holydays of obligation expired on the weekend of May 23, 2021, Catholics in the Diocese of San Angelo are dispensed from the obligation if they are over 65, are caring for the sick, are sick (including those who have tested positive for the coronavirus and those who have had close contact with someone who as tested positive for the coronavirus, regardless of how well they feel), have underlying health conditions, or are truly and sincerely fearful that they may contract the coronavirus (A true and sincere fear is one that has prevented a person from attending non-required activities, such as eating at a restaurant, gatherings with family and friends, attending a movie theater, etc.).

As for special programs, meetings and such, we encourage masks and social distancing. There are usually very few people at these programs and meetings. Some are offered on zoom.

We are currently discussing postponing in person religious education (PSR) until a later date; the program for this Fall has not has not started yet. We are monitoring the Covid situation constantly. We offer the religious education program for elementary level students on-line and with at-home materials; just contact Kristin Atkinson to register the children. We will probably offer in person classes eventually, because many children get no religious education if they don’t come to any class.

St. Ann’s School has its own very strict protocols for classroom and other activities.

I hope some of the things I have mentioned are helpful. Please feel free to contact me or others in the parish administration with your questions are concerns.

May God heal the sick, give strength to our health care workers and delivers us from the pandemic.

​​​​​​Msgr. Larry J. Droll

​​​​​​Pastor

Deacon Tom

Diocese of San Angelo

Office of the Bishop

P.O. Box 1829

San Angelo, Texas 76902-1829

April 29, 2021

Diocese of San Angelo Enters Phase Two

Dear friends in Christ,

As you know, the current conditions of the coronavirus pandemic in West Texas include lower rates of active cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Therefore, public liturgies in the Diocese of San Angelo will move to the more relaxed Phase Two Protocols on May 8, 2021.

In our new Phase Two Protocols for Public Liturgies, the changes can be summarized as follows:

• Facemasks for attendees are not mandated but are strongly encouraged.

• Every pew may now be used.

• The social distance requirement of six feet is now reduced to three feet.

Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation:

The general dispensation from attending Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation expires on the weekend of Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2021. Catholics in the Diocese of San Angelo are dispensed from the obligation ONLY if they:

a. are age 65 or over, or

b. are caring for the sick, or

c. are sick, including those who have tested positive for the coronavirus and those who have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus, regardless of how well they feel, or

d. have underlying health conditions, or

e. are truly and sincerely fearful that they may contract the coronavirus. A true and sincere fear is one that has prevented a person from attending non-required activities, such as eating at a restaurant, gatherings with family and friends, attending a movie theater, etc.

Those who do not meet any of the above criteria are obligated to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. This obligation is not satisfied by watching a virtual or livestreamed Mass.

Accommodations for Maintaining Phase One Protocols:

While the Diocese of San Angelo will utilize the more relaxed Phase Two Protocols for Public Liturgies, each parish or mission cluster is encouraged to offer at least one opportunity for people to attend Mass on Sundays or holy days of obligation with adherence to Phase One Protocols. This will accommodate those who are uncomfortable with or leery of the more relaxed Phase Two Protocols.

Phase One Protocols include 6-foot social distance between non-family groups, skipping every other pew, and wearing facemasks.

Options for Phase One Protocol accommodations:

a. Celebrate a separate liturgy that has full Phase One Protocols in place.

b. Reserve an appropriate section within the church or parish facilities that will practice Phase One Protocols.

c. Designate one of the churches or missions in a cluster to use full Phase One Protocols while the others have relaxed protocols.

d. Utilize any other appropriate manner to accommodate those individuals who are not comfortable with the Phase Two Protocols.

The pastor will decide how to offer these liturgies in a way that will work best for his community.

Even considering the current improved coronavirus conditions, all of the Phase One Protocols are still available for use as needed in the judgment of the pastor. Furthermore, in any given parish or area, if a new flareup of the coronavirus occurs, then the parish should move back to a more restrictive option from the Phase One Protocols of December 18, 2020.

You may find the complete set of new Phase Two Protocols in the coronavirus section of our diocesan website at www.sanangelodiocese.org.

I encourage those over the age of 16 to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the sake of public health in view of the common good of society.

May the Holy Spirit help us to revive our participation in the sacraments and to reengage people in active parish life. I am sincerely grateful to all who have been helping in the implementation of our coronavirus protocols, especially our priests, deacons, and other parish leaders.

In the joy of Christ’s service,

AT ST. ANN’S MIDLAND, beginning May 8 and 9, 2021:

Implementing the protocols above at St. Ann’s, each weekend we will have Phase One protocols in the whole church at the Saturday evening Mass. This means all are expected to wear masks and we use every other pew, with six feet of social distancing. We will also use the north transept of the church for Phase One protocols at the Spanish Mass on Sundays.

At all Sunday Masses, we will use the new Phase Two protocols. This means masks are optional (though strongly encouraged). We use all pews and practice three feet of social distancing between families or individuals not of the same household.