In-Person Church Attendance Guidelines

Only the 8:00 Sunday Service will be open to parishioners at this time. This is a 30-minute Service. This Service will not have communion or music at this time. If the infection rate in the Wareham area and in the State of Massachusetts rises, this Service will be suspended until the rate drops again.

Our main Good Shepherd Service will continue to be held on Facebook Live Sundays at 10:00am. This Service will not be held with parishioners in attendance at this time.

This will allow the Main Service to be focused on those participating from home, since some parishioners cannot participate in an in-person Service due to health concerns. It will also allow the music ministers to carry out their ministries most effectively, especially in regard to singing.

Making a Reservation to attend an 8:00am Sunday Service:

If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and have not been cleared by your doctor; if you have been in the proximity, in the past 14 days, of someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19; if you have symptoms related to COVID-19 or are not feeling well in any way; you are not eligible to attend an in-person Sunday Service at Good Shepherd. Please continue to participate in our Good Shepherd Facebook Live Sunday Service at 10:00am.

If/when none of the above conditions apply to you and you wish to participate in 8:00 in-person Sunday Service at Good Shepherd, you will have to email Pastor Dan (pastor.dan.bernier@gmail.com) to let him know of your interest to attend a n in-person Sunday Service. Please email your request by the Thursday before the Sunday you would like to attend. Your name(s) will be added to a list of all those parishioners who would like to attend an 8:00 Sunday Service.

Pastor Dan will send you an email to confirm your Sunday Service reservation on the Friday before the Sunday you would attend. Only those with a confirmed reservation for the particular 8:00 Sunday Service will be allowed into the church. There will be a limit of 24 individuals attending (2 people per pew, at each end of the pew). Every other pew will be used. Only those from the same household will be allowed to sit together anywhere in the assigned pew.

Once the limit of 24 people is reached, those still on the list will be given priority for the next Sunday.

There will be no walk-ins allowed into the church.

If for some reason you cannot attend a church Service for which you have a reservation you are asked to let pastor Dan know as soon as possible so another person can attend in your place.

The name, address, email address, and phone number of each attendee will be kept on file for possible contact tracing purposes

There will be no singing and communion will not be distributed at the 8:00 Sunday Service.

Masks are required for all who attend the Sunday Service. There will be no exceptions to this. If you are unable to wear a mask, you will not be allowed to attend the Service. You are required to bring your own mask, and to wear it from the time you leave your car until the time you return to your car.

For safety purposes, the bathrooms will not be available for those attending the Service. Plan accordingly.

There will be no socializing in the church before or after the Service.

The Sunday Morning 8:00am Service:

Arrive no earlier than 15 minutes before the Service. Please do not be late, you will not be permitted into the building once the Service begins.

Maintain social distancing of 6 feet from the time you exit your car until the time you get back to your car after the Service.

You are asked to enter the church from the main doors, the double doors that enter the church from the back of the sanctuary (worship space). You are not permitted to enter through the parish office door.

When you arrive, your temperature will be taken, and you will be assigned a seat. The church will be filled from front to back. Once you are seated, you are required to stay at your seat until the Service is finished.

At the end of the Service you will be asked to leave the building starting from the back of the church, moving to the front of the church. Exiting through the double doors in the back of the sanctuary (worship space). No one is to exit through the parish office exit.

There is to be no congregating after the Service. Once you leave the church, maintain social distancing until you get to your car. This allows people to safely exit the church and return to their cars without having to pass through people gathered in conversation.