The friars and staff place the utmost importance on keeping our members, visitors, volunteers and staff as safe as possible as we continue to navigate this terrible pandemic. We continue to have safety measures in place to maintain social distancing and other safety practices including requiring masks and having hand sanitizer available at the entrances to the church.
Mass attendance in person
In July 2020, the Church of St. Francis of Assisi resumed welcoming people to attend Mass in person again.
All of our Masses are open for people to attend in person without a reservation. We require everyone who enters to wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth, communion is only given in the hand with the communicant keeping their mask up until they step a few feet to the side to consume the Eucharist. And we continue to ask people to participate in the prayers but not in singing.
Currently we limit in person Mass attendance to 140 to be able to preserve social distancing.
Masses are also available on Livestream for people who are not yet comfortable attending in person, and for the homebound and our members who are far away.
Click here for our current Mass schedule.
Confession
In July 2020 the Church of St. Francis of Assisi also resumed making available the sacrament of Reconciliation. Masks are required in the confessional. Confessions are heard in the confessionals in the lower church.
Click here for our current Confession Schedule
Church open for private prayer and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Church of St. Francis of Assisi is open for private prayer Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, when Mass is not being held. The Church is also open Saturday 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sunday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is also available in the lower church Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
St. Francis Bookstore and Hospitality Desk
The Hospitality desk and St. Francis Bookstore in the Francis House is open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM and Sunday from 8 to 12 noon. Books, religious articles, Mass cards and other items are available in our store.
The Adult Education Center
The St. Francis Adult Education Center is closed during the pandemic. This has also allowed us to undertake a major renovation of the building which needed of some attention. At this time we are not hosting self-help groups due to the pandemic and our adult education classes have been held on zoom.
We expect to begin to offer in person attendance of adult education courses, for people who can prove that they have been vaccinated, this summer. Courses will also be offered on zoom.
We hope to begin to welcome back self help groups by the end of the summer at the latest.
Volunteers and Liturgical Ministers
We are still limiting the number of lectors, servers and eucharistic ministers who serve during the liturgy, however we hope to open this up further when the risk levels in New York City go down further. For more specific information about limits on liturgical ministers please contact Edward Trochimczuk at etrochimczuk@stfrancisnyc.org.
Volunteers in other ministries should contact their staff liaison for information about your specific ministry.
We are here for you
Even during the darkest days of this Coronavirus pandemic, when our church and our city was in lockdown, the friars and staff continued to reach out to our members and visitors on livestream and zoom with prayer, scripture sharing groups, liturgies and retreats. We will continue to offer these opportunities even as we open up more and more in the weeks and months to come.
If you have any questions about attending in person, our safety procedures, or what we offer remotely, please contact our Director of Evangelization, Joseph Nuzzi at jnuzzi@stfrancisnyc.org