Beginning with morning Mass on Monday, June 29, our online reservation system for all Masses (both weekday and weekend) will change to Flocknote, which will be easier to manage and will eliminate the 24 hour cutoff for reservations prior to Mass. It would have been nice to use Flocknote from the beginning but the Flocknote reservation system was not yet operational.
For those in the Flocknote system, an E-Mail and text will be sent to you containing the sign up link. For those not in Flocknote, please go to our NEW webpage: www.john23.org and you will find the link. We do not handle reservations in the Parish Office.
Regarding the reservations, we have had questions and complaints as to why we need them and what we do with the names. The main reason for reservations is for us to manage our limited capacity. If you have a reservation, it guarantees that you have a seat for Mass. To me, it is absolutely critical that if you make an effort to get to Mass, that you are not turned away because we have reached our capacity. A reservation guarantees your seat.
A secondary reason to collect names and contact information is to alert the people at a particular Mass if someone has tested positive for Covid-19 who attended that Mass. We do that as a courtesy to you. If I am in the presence of someone who has the virus, I would want to know so that I could monitor my own health. We are not under any obligation to send the names to the Health Department.
While I would prefer not to have to use a reservation system and I am looking forward to the day that we no longer need to, I see reservations as being essential to managing our limited capacity.