Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, With great joy and excitement, we are writing you this letter, and hopefully, after reading it, you will be as excited as we are! Through the Pastoral Needs Survey, we have a unique opportunity for all the faithful throughout the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to express their thoughts and provide valuable insight on how to support and serve our people.   The Diocesan Pastoral Council needs your help in educating and communicating with our people about the upcoming Pastoral Needs Survey. Our aim is to be inclusive and to get this survey into as many hands as possible! By doing so, we hope to receive meaningful feedback, which in turn will give leadership a better understanding of the needs shared by the diverse demographics represented throughout our diocese.  Through this email, you are receiving the link to the Pastoral Needs Survey. We thank those of you who have taken the time to complete it and invite those who have not, a reminder to do so.  The survey will be accessible by link via the Diocesan website or at the end of this announcement.  We encourage you to share this link on social media platforms and by email on the kickoff weekend of August 21, 22. For the faithful who do not have access to the internet and will need the survey in paper form, we are providing that in the Gathering Area.  Paper forms should be returned to the Parish and will be mailed as a group.  Deadline is September 19^th.

Insert: Please use these links to access the surveys.   (https://dwc.org/pastoral-needs-survey/) 

Spanish Survey Link https://dwc.org/encuesta-de-necesidades-pastorale/

Bishop Mark Brennan asked each Pastor to poll the Pastoral Council about wearing masks again at Mass because of the rise of the Delta Variant and the fact that cases are still on the upswing.

After consulting with our Parish Pastoral Council by email I want to announce that St. Michael Parish will resume wearing masks when gathered for the public celebration of the sacraments effective this Saturday, August 21st.  Knowing that some will not see this message, masks will be provided in the gathering area.

While we know this is a difficult decision and many are at least mostly protected by means of a vaccination, this measure is taken both in solidarity with and for the protection of those who cannot yet be vaccinated.  

Please join me in praying for a rapid end for the need of these extraordinary measures and join together in the work of keeping our neighbors safe.

Please pray for these young men and for an increase in Vocations to the Priesthood in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.