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Diocese of Belleville
Office of the Apostolic Administrator
May 28, 2020
Dear Priests and Deacons,
Today, Governor Pritzker announced that all of the four Restore Illinois health regions have reached the required health benchmarks for advancing to Phase 3, which will begin tomorrow, May 29. He also issued guidance for reopening churches. That guidance can be found at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/community-guidance/places-worship-guidance.
The Bishops of the Province of Chicago will review this document and will communicate as soon as possible any decisions that go beyond the Plan we have in place. Therefore, parishes in the Diocese of Belleville should continue to complete Phases I and IA (Baptism, Reconciliation, Weddings, Funerals, private prayer and Eucharistic Adoration for 10 or fewer), but not Phase II (weekday and weekend Masses and groups larger than 10) until further notice.
We hope to be able to provide you an update on opening churches for Phase II early next week. We hope that parishes might be able to move into Phase II as early as the weekend of June 6-7. However, until the Bishops review the Executive Order, I ask for your full cooperation and support in staying with the Plan the Bishops have already approved, keeping in mind the value of our unity and our responsibility to keep our people safe.
Appreciatively yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Apostolic Administrator
Diocese of Belleville