Now that the school year in Florida has started, St James, Jacksonville, FL will no longer be allowed to use the classroom chapel in St Joseph’s school where they have been celebrating mass for the past year, owing to the extra cleaning and sanitizing this would involve for the school. Instead they have been offered the use of the so-called “Old Church” of St Joseph, Jacksonville closed in 1977 when the new church opened but subsequently renovated and used for Spanish, Portuguese, and TLM Sunday masses. St James will be celebrating a 5 pm Vigil mass on Saturdays.It's worth noting that reopening schools is a highly contentious issue with major political implications, since those who advocate social engineering focus on schools. But political pressure from parents will make this a fluid situation, especially leading up to the fall elections.Thus I was surprised to see that St John Fisher, Orlando, FL will apparently continue to be allowed to use the cafetorium at Andover Elementary School for its two Sunday masses even after the school reopens this month. The school is going to a model which allows parents to choose either distance or in-person instruction and the local Orange County School Board has created a seventy page manual outlining policies and procedures for maintaining school safety during the pandemic which encourages schools to limit any use of the school by outside groups.
St John Vianney, Cleburne, TX continues to use the cafetorium at Marti Elementary School. Volunteers from the congregation appear to be responsible for cleaning the area ahead of Sunday mass.
Meanwhile Cathedral High School in San Diego has not yet decided whether the St Augustine of Canterbury Ordinariate community will be allowed to use the school chapel once the school reopens. The group has not met for mass since the beginning of the lockdown.[California so far has prohibited in-person instruction at both public and private schools in most parts of the state.]
As we know, St Aelred, Athens, GA has relocated from the local school chapel to the community centre in Bishop, GA.
I am surprised that these congregations are getting a better reception at public schools than at parochial ones. I thought it might be that the latter had more resources to handle the extra cleaning and sanitising, but Fr Mayer mentioned in his latest newsletter that the congregation was paying twice as much to rent the school chapel in Jacksonville as they had been paying previously to use church space in St Augustine, FL so the parochial schools are losing revenue by ending or suspending the arrangements they have with these congregations
A secondary question is how the typically small ordinariate groups can pay whatever rent the host parishes charge. How much does a group of a few dozen collect on a Sunday? How many will be back after the lockdowns finally end? While a parish might theoretically see income from the ordinariate group, if the group can't pay for the lights, air conditioning, and insurance, it may not be worth carrying.
A tax-supported school or community center with a budget and a public service mission may not have the same issues.
