Vermont church using tickets to limit attendance at Christmas mass

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WINOOSKI, Vt. (WCAX) - As Christmas draws closer, the St. Francis Xavier parish in Winooski is distributing tickets for their Christmas masses.

The St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church can only accommodate 115 people to ensure proper social distancing and safety.

Monsignor Richard Lavalley said the parish is requiring people to register or call ahead to get tickets.

No one without a ticket will be admitted.

Lavalley is also asking people who might be at especially high risk of severe complications of COVID-19 to stay home and watch the mass via livestream.

“It makes me feel sad. I hate the thought of limiting it. I wish we could just open the doors and let everyone in but that’s not a good thing to do. We have to help people to be healthy and we have to do everything that we can,” Lavalley said.

The monsignor says he hopes this will make people realize they need to follow the proper precautions so they can all be back in the church together once again.