COVID-19 Updates

Posted on March 18, 2020

Greetings, friends,

We know that the news about COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, is on the minds of many people. Along with Elon University and the Diocese of Raleigh, Catholic Campus Ministry at Elon has been monitoring the situation. While there are no confirmed cases of the coronavirus at Elon, the university has released a statement regarding next steps at Elon as students are preparing to leave for spring break next week (March 14-22). You can find full details of the statement here: https://www.elon.edu/coronavirus.

The main things to know are that undergraduate courses are transitioning to online classes for students, and that students are encouraged to remain at home from March 23-April 5. All university travel has also been canceled through this time, so CCM's service trips will no longer proceed. Please keep our students and the people they would have served in Jamaica and New Bern, NC, in your prayers, as well as all who are affected by COVID-19.

The university has requested that most campus activities with more than 50 people be canceled during this time. Governor Roy Cooper has also requested that gatherings with more than 100 people be canceled. Based on this directive, Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama has waived the obligation for the faithful to attend Sunday Mass and has canceled all public daily and weekend Masses in the Diocese of Raleigh. You can find his statement here: https://dioceseofraleigh.org/news/suspension-all-masses.

Here is what you can expect from Catholic Campus Ministry:

We will not hold any Masses during the week of Elon's spring break (as originally planned).

The 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM Sunday Masses are canceled until further notice.

All daily Masses are also canceled until further notice.

Please know that our Mass schedule can still change at any time as more news and information are released about the coronavirus and its status within North Carolina. You can find regular updates to our schedule at http://org.elon.edu/ccm/mass/current.php. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please speak with Father Peter or any of our CCM staff.

In Christ,

Fr. Peter C. Tremblay, OFM Conv., Associate Chaplain for Catholic Life
T Huynh-Duc, Director of Catholic Life