News Updates 

Dec 21st Update

Note from the Archbishop:

"On Friday afternoon, December 18, the Governor’s Office notified the Archdiocese of Portland that the capacity limits for faith institutions are public health recommendations only, not legal requirements. As a result, I am changing my directives for parishes to the following, effective immediately:

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Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Portland may accommodate as many people as possible in both church buildings and satellite locations, while strictly maintaining 6 foot distancing, up to 50% of the fire marshal’s maximum capacity for the space. Please note that few if any parishes will be able to reach 50% of capacity due to seating configurations and church layout while observing the 6 foot social distancing requirement.

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Masking continues to be required and cleaning protocols should still be maintained. Sign-ups for Masses are no longer required, but parishes may need to maintain a sign-up system to control parishioner numbers and expectations. However, sign-ups are left to the pastor’s discretion. In any case, contact information for Mass participants is no longer required and does not need to be maintained for 60 days.

This is a wonderful Christmas gift from God to His People. Thank you for all of your dedicated work on their behalf."

As our situation is changing, we will continue using the sign-up system at this time for Sunday Masses to ensure safety for all. Please call the parish office.

We also offer weekday masses at 8:30 am Tuesday thru Friday. 

Please join us. 

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the first reading it was time for the people of Nineveh to reform their lives and do penance.

One of the things that is very difficult for us to think about is that our death is coming in a short time.  We have a number of projects that need to be completed and we have a number of things on our bucket list before our death and we have the built-in assumption that we will have the time to complete them.  So we have what we might call a vague notion that we will die sometime in the future.  Part of the problem is that we continually keep pushing our time of death out into the distant future as we age, even if we are 60 or 70.  Only if a doctor harshly says that we have a dreaded disease and we will die in so many weeks will we accept that life is ending.  We never find ourselves praying that our death would take place tomorrow, as that seems to be a suicidal attitude. 

So what about the old tradition of daily praying for a happy death?  I’m not sure of what a happy death looks like but it would at least be one without fear controlling us.  It would seem that looking forward to our death is a much healthier Christian attitude than an attitude of denial which is so popular with us.

Mission Statement: 

"We the members of St. Mary Church at Shaw are committed to the spiritual enrichment of the Catholic faith in the community through service education and development in the spirit of Jesus's teachings."

Tel: 503-362-6159
Fax: 503-371-6435

9168 Silver Falls Hwy Se 

Aumsville, Oregon 97325

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