{"id":6594,"date":"2021-12-30T16:52:31","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T21:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stjameswatertown.org\/?p=6594"},"modified":"2021-12-30T16:53:14","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T21:53:14","slug":"parish-update-regarding-covid-19-december-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/parish-update-regarding-covid-19-december-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Parish Update Regarding Covid-19 | December 30"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">Dear Parishioners,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">We hope that you are well as we prepare to welcome the new year.&nbsp;In light of the sudden and serious surge in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, which is expected to continue throughout the coming weeks, we have decided to make some&nbsp;changes to upcoming church services and events until the surge subsides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">These updates are based on the directive of Bishop Daniel Findikyan, Primate of the Eastern Diocese (which can be read in its entirety&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/armenianchurch.us\/2021\/12\/19\/diocese-issues-updated-covid-19-guidelines-for-pastors-and-parishes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>) as well as the specific situation and public health directives here in Massachusetts. Our focus is the safety and well-being of our parish family and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong><u>THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 2:<\/u><\/strong><strong>All church services are CANCELED for this&nbsp;Sunday, January 2.&nbsp;<\/strong>The church sanctuary will be open from 10 am to 1 pm for candle lighting and for prayers. Masks continue to be required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong>ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS SERVICES&nbsp;JANUARY 5 AND 6:<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;A<\/strong><strong>ll church services are CANCELED for January 5 and January 6.&nbsp;<\/strong>The Armenian Christmas celebration and Blessing of Water will be moved to Sunday, January 9.&nbsp;We encourage faithful to tune in to the livestream from St. Vartan Cathedral on January 6, as Primate Bishop Daniel celebrates&nbsp;<em>badarak.&nbsp;<\/em>The services will be broadcast on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/armenianchurch.us1.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=727aaae8ea56658ecf4a092d5&amp;id=317315eb4f&amp;e=cc41fb1aae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/armenianchurch.us1.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=727aaae8ea56658ecf4a092d5&amp;id=8e0c4353c2&amp;e=cc41fb1aae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Eastern Diocese\u2019s YouTube platform<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong>NEXT SUNDAY, JANUARY 9 |&nbsp;DIVINE LITURGY AND BLESSING OF WATER SERVICE:<\/strong>&nbsp;Divine Liturgy is currently scheduled to take place on Sunday, January 9 at 10 am with the traditional Blessing of Water Service immediately following. Masks will continue to be required. There will be no fellowship hour due to safety concerns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong><u>Tuesday Night Bingo<\/u>:<\/strong>&nbsp;Tuesday Night Bingo is canceled for the month of January.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong><u>Church Events<\/u>:<\/strong>&nbsp;Men's Club on January 3rd&nbsp;and Hye Cafe on January 14th have been canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong><u>Church Schools:<\/u>&nbsp;<\/strong>Our church schools will postpone re-opening by one week. St. Sahag &amp; St. Mesrob Armenian School will resume on Saturday, January 15 and Sunday School will resume on Sunday, January 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><strong><u>Church Office<\/u>:<\/strong>&nbsp;The Church Office remains open from 10 am - 4 pm, however we encourage parishioners to submit requests by phone at at 617-923-8860 or e-mail&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:info@sthagop.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">info@sthagop.com<\/a>&nbsp;rather than visiting in person, if possible.&nbsp;Please note, the Church offices&nbsp;will be closed on Friday, December 31st in observance of the New Year holiday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">It is our hope that these adjustments will only be temporary, and that we will be able to return to in person gatherings&nbsp;again soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">We wish all of our parishioners and friends a Happy New Year. May we all begin this new year with a renewed sense of hope in the future, peace, and grace. May 2022 be a year of healing for us all. We pray that God grant good health and happiness for you and your loved ones, comfort to those who are struggling,&nbsp;and lasting peace for our brothers and sisters in Artsakh and Armenia, our country, and the&nbsp;entire world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Parishioners, We hope that you are well as we prepare to welcome the new year.&nbsp;In light of the sudden and serious surge in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, which is expected to continue throughout the coming weeks, we have decided to make some&nbsp;changes to upcoming church services and events until the surge subsides. These updates are based&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/parish-update-regarding-covid-19-december-30\/\" class=\"read-more\">Continue Reading<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","cat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6597,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594\/revisions\/6597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}