Parking lot Mass held in Gardner

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

GARDNER - At 4 p.m. on Saturday, Annunciation Parish held its first public Mass since the suspension of gatherings for worship due to coronavirus restrictions. 

Though parishioners could not yet receive Communion, they watched from about 50 vehicles in Holy Spirit Chapel’s parking lot as their pastor, Father Stephen E. Lundrigan, celebrated Mass outside - in snow and sunshine. They could hear the Mass on their car radios. 

Similar Masses were planned for Sunday morning outside Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, 135 Nichols St. Father Lundrigan said afterwards that the outdoor Masses will likely continue. Many people pulled together to plan and prepare for this one, he said.

“It was good to be back, even in this unconventional way,” Patricia Castagna, an Annunciation parishioner, said after Saturday’s Mass. It had included points from the pastor that fit the unusual circumstances.

“We come here with great joy,” for the first time -  in a modified way - able to be a community in a tighter way, he said. 

In his prepared homily he noted that Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. … I am going to prepare a place for you.” 

“Given how long we have all been cooped up in the house we may want to take him up on that,” Father Lundrigan quipped. He said Jesus is leading us to a better place, but sometimes we continue to aim for more of what we already have. 

We are called to become physically one with Jesus, to let him be the path, not to build our own way apart from him, the pastor noted. We act as his body when we renounce unfairness, greed, and division. We become one with him by worshiping and offering sacrifice in church and helping our neighbors.

Father Lundrigan expressed hope that very soon the people will be able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist again.

At the end of Mass, as Boy Scouts and their leaders from Troop 4 and Troop 9 prepared to pack things up and to direct traffic, the pastor had a final admonition:  “Let us go in peace - no fender benders in the process.” 

“Father did a lot to make sure that Masses were filmed so that people could still watch them,” said Michael Nicholson, a 25-year-old who’s been an altar server for 18 years. “But this was special to be together again, in a new way.” He stood near the tent under which Father Lundrigan celebrated Mass, and said he saw fellow parishioners in their vehicles.

“They’re family,” he said.

A similar sentiment was held by cantor Dianne Scott, who was serving at her first Mass since the suspension of Masses. 

“I was so happy so many people came, and I just feel very blessed to be able to be here,” she said. “I think we all did. We were very happy to be together as our 4 o’clock family.”

“I think it was wonderful,” said organist Sharon Sawtell, who played a keyboard for the outdoor Mass, for which she and other helpers wore coats. “God showed us all kinds of weather and we showed him all kinds of dedication. … And the joy of being present at Mass - boy, we’ve missed it, haven’t we?”

Photo album