Our Lady of the Assumption Parish's No-Contact Palm Distribution

Woodbridge, CT - Blessed palm branches were available for pick up all day on Palm Sunday in the parking lot of Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church on Center Road in Woodbridge . A long line of white tables were set up on the west side of the Center Road church along what is normally the pedestrian walkway for the parking lot.

The tables were set in front of a row of blooming forsythia bushes with the fresh palm branches arranged in a single layer. The palms that had been blessed by Pastor Rev. Christopher M. Ford were held in place with wooden planks and long pieces of metal. The arrangement required parishioners to only touch the palms that they would be taking home for themselves and family members.

In the most recent church bulletin, parishioners were instructed to follow the posted instructions carefully out of concern for the health of the community.

There was a large wooden cross draped with a red robe at the beginning of the one-way driveway indicating the entrance to the parking lot. Following the orange cones, drivers were allowed to pull their automobile up to one of the tables and choose as many palms as they wished.

Bethwood Patch Mayor Nancy Sasso Janis headed to the church after the broadcast of theOffice of Radio and Television Palm Sunday Mass. After waiting for the car in front of her to drive away, she was grateful to see that there was an abundance of palm branches remaining on the long line of tables.

Wearing a scarf over her face, Ms. Janis exited her car just long enough to grab a bunch of palms and snap a photo. She realized too late that, due to the gloves she was wearing, the stalks she had taken were probably more than she would need for her family. As Ms. Janis exited the parking lot, she was greeted with a wave and smiles from a couple walking their dog through the lot.

As it turned out, the amount of palms was just about right. The Patch Mayor immediately drove to the grave of her parents at St. Lawrence Cemetery in West Haven and left the palm cross that she handcrafted in her car as she waited for other family members visiting a grave to leave the area of the huge cemetery.

Ms. Janis next headed towards her home in Naugatuck, stopping at St. James Cemetery near Route 8. There she left a handmade palm cross on the graves of the late Prof. Ruth M. Sasso, a long-time early childhood educator at NVCC, and one for Ms. Janis son Jonathan Austin Henry, both buried in the same row at the cemetery. She also crafted a small cross for the grave of Thelma B. (Boulanger) Malone, who passed away in February and whose funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Hedwig's in Naugatuck.

The remaining palms collected by Ms. Janis are displayed behind crucifixes and, as suggested by Fr. Ford, photos of beloved family members. They replace the year-old palms that were collected at Our Lady of the Assumption prior to Ash Wednesday to that they could be burned to ashes for distribution.

OLOA parishioners are reminded that they are welcome to come to the Center Road Church from dawn to dusk for private prayer. They are invited to stop in and prayer for all those affected by the coronavirus.