I'm still mystified. If they are following the advice more closely, how come they are the first to make the most of a relaxation? As you'll see if you dip into the Public Health and Religious Freedom thread from about here onwards, in France we obedient protestants look like being the last to want to do so, especially at the evangelical end of the spectrum...
I've just heard that the General Synod of the C of E is looking at ways of operating 'virtually'.
Given the usual chaos (and uselessness - YMMV) of General Synod, this is like an attempt at herding cats, or knitting smoke...
Why on earth don't they take a leaf out of the books of other churches, and simply postpone until better days (if such ever arrive...and, if they don't, General Synod won't be of any purpose, anyway)?
It is supposed to be our General Convention (darn, I hate that term!) year, but it is has been postponed to October. I do not see a practical way of doing it online, and what is remarkable is that no-one has even suggested it. The whole thing is a bit of a bummer because it was supposed to be the GC when we finally started work on abolishing GC and replacing it with a unicameral General Synod.
I'm still mystified. If they are following the advice more closely, how come they are the first to make the most of a relaxation? As you'll see if you dip into the Public Health and Religious Freedom thread from about here onwards, in France we obedient protestants look like being the last to want to do so, especially at the evangelical end of the spectrum...
They would be far from the first to reopen for worship. We missed two weeks whilst we sorted out the contradictory advice and commands from the State, and waited to see whether we were going to have a significant outbreak. We missed Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday, but have been up and running courtesy of the sign-up sheet since Good Friday.
Most other congregations have found some way of meeting with the result that we have two doing parking lot services, and three meeting in small groups. There are advantages to being small, and they could be meeting for worship now if they would employ a bit of ingenuity. Instead they are supinely waiting for the government to declare normality, which I have a suspicion the government is not going to do in the foreseeable future.
It seems to me another way of putting it would be that they're being cautious where others are being reckless in pushing to the limit of the letter of the law. Please tell me you're at least disinfecting surfaces between "sittings" in your church?
I was also reflecting that gatherings with no singing don't sound like much fun, but then I began to think about why we meet in the first place. Is it for fun? Fun?? Surely there are more ways to worship God than singing? Time for us to re-discover what worship is, maybe.
St Augustine "He who sings prays twice."
Singing is about using the whole person, body, mind and spirit in prayer. Not just the mind and spirit.
This is naughty of me, but tbh the possible loss of the sort of 'worship songs' that are often found these days is not (IMHO) much of a loss...
OTOH, a complete lack of singing and/or music would be an impoverishment. One of our congregation has already said that she would find a Sunday 'Low' Mass rather too solemn, as she finds the hymns, and other music, uplifting.
I think NZ is poised to ban singing ... that'll have the conspiracy theorists here wetting their collective undies
I'm happy ... my garden is full of two of NZ's most musical birds, tui and korimako (bellbird) who are reversing the traditional role of humanity singing "on behalf of" creation ... and saving me from what is often the glum cacophony in the churches I oversee ... I meanwhile can sing in the shower or in my head (and in the latter I get the notes right).
I think NZ is poised to ban singing ... that'll have the conspiracy theorists here wetting their collective undies
If France tries, I suspect it may stick in the throats (hah!) of more than just Catholics, as unlike simply closing churches down, it would constitute interfering in the actual mechanics of religious practice itself.
Either way, I'm now getting a working group up and running to look at how we could reorganise our spirituality to do without communal singing on a Sunday and still have something that resembles us. That's a huge challenge, but when I see how much our online Sunday meeting resembles us, I'm confident they'll come up with something workable.
I think NZ is poised to ban singing ... that'll have the conspiracy theorists here wetting their collective undies
If France tries, I suspect it may stick in the throats (hah!) of more than just Catholics, as unlike simply closing churches down, it would constitute interfering in the actual mechanics of religious practice itself.
The history of the French Republics suggests that would not be a barrier. The Government would say this is a matter of public health not of religious belief and, after all, closing places of worship is a much greater interference in the 'mechanics of religious practice'.
No it's not. Closing places of worship is a blanket ban irrespective of the type of worship. Banning singing would be specific meddling in a specific type of worship. They are not the same thing, at least not in terms of how the French see the relationship between religion and the state.
I've been surprised before, but I'd be very surprised if a ban on singing in church was made French government policy.
[ETA and if it was, there would be huge howls of protest on the above grounds]
My understanding, (possibly wrong !) is that churches in France may be open and people may come to pray in them, but they must on no account try to form any worship group.
This was certainly the situation in Germany until recently with one major difference that people were able privately to access the sacraments.
The new rules in Germany in force since the 1st of May allow for public worship under the following conditions :
1. hygiene and distancing rules must be observed
2. there should only be one entrance used into the building
3. names and contact details should be taken of those entering for public worship
4. when the allotted number is reached concerning space and distancing no-one else is allowed to come in
5. there should be no congregational singing.
Music is allowed and a good number of churches will have a singing group who will replace congregational singing
People from the same household may sit together but otherwise strict distancing
domradio.de website shows a solemn celebration for the Fifth Sunday of Easter in Cologne cathedral. There is a small choir far away from the rest of the participants.
the 100 or so participants are seated one or two in each row
Holy Communion is administered via a plexiglass screen.
A building such as Cologne cathedral has a great amount of flexible place which can be used to good advantage in these strange days.
The UK may eventually follow those lines, to a degree (not sure where we'd put a plexiglass screen in Our Place!), but we could manage the distancing, and probably a small singing group as well. Our organ (and piano) are to one side of the nave, in the south aisle, so there is room for 2-3 people, as well as the organist/pianist, to keep well apart from the congregation, and each other.
I wonder if it would be all right for the priest to simply stand at the chancel step with the ciborium, handing out the hosts to the Faithful as they come up in a line, 2 metres apart from each other?
If he stretches out his arm to place the host in the communicant's outstretched hand, at least there would be a certain space between them! I envisage the priest wearing protective gloves whilst handling the hosts, BTW, if that's an acceptable practice.
The UK may eventually follow those lines, to a degree (not sure where we'd put a plexiglass screen in Our Place!), but we could manage the distancing, and probably a small singing group as well. Our organ (and piano) are to one side of the nave, in the south aisle, so there is room for 2-3 people, as well as the organist/pianist, to keep well apart from the congregation, and each other.
I wonder if it would be all right for the priest to simply stand at the chancel step with the ciborium, handing out the hosts to the Faithful as they come up in a line, 2 metres apart from each other?
If he stretches out his arm to place the host in the communicant's outstretched hand, at least there would be a certain space between them! I envisage the priest wearing protective gloves whilst handling the hosts, BTW, if that's an acceptable practice.
That isn’t much different from what we were planning to do on Sunday 22nd March, the first Sunday of the lockdown. We had already decided to stop all midweek services and just continue with our Sunday Parish Mass. It never happened because before that date churches were told to close their doors.
With our fairly large Victorian building and a congregation of only around 12 it would have been easy to socially distance ourselves. We had been planning to receive communion by standing spaced out in a large circle around our altar, which could have easily been achieved with our small numbers.
What will happen when we can finally reopen our church I have no idea. My greatest fear is that I will be the only person there. I suppose that I could unlock the door, sit at our small keyboard and play a few hymns, say a few prayers and then go home. If the over 70’s and those who have underlying health issues are not able to attend, as a mere 63 year old I will be the only one there. The only person we have under the age of 60 is shielding because she had a kidney transplant about 10 years ago.
When you only have a congregation of between 12 and 15 people it’s easy to almost know about every persons circumstances. When you begin to consider all of our people in their 70’s and their 80’s we have 2 with dementia, one with heart problems, a couple of diabetics, one person who recently had a leg amputated and one who is caring for her 96 year old mother. Our 4 retired clergy, who lead our services are reasonably healthy but are all aged between 75 and 85.
Very sad after our small elderly congregation have been so faithful during what has now been 9 difficult years without a priest. They have never given up and have attended mass through all hardships. Even with our small numbers we have maintained a full Sung Mass throughout and almost all of our people also attend our Tuesday morning Mass.
I know that lots of exciting things have been happening with live streamed services etc in larger churches with younger computer literate congregations and clergy. Many of our people don’t even do text messages and certainly do not have computers to go online.
I would now hate to think that after all this faithfulness it was the Coronavirus that finally closed our church rather than the diocese denying us even a part time priest for all these years.
If France tries, I suspect it may stick in the throats (hah!) of more than just Catholics, as unlike simply closing churches down, it would constitute interfering in the actual mechanics of religious practice itself.
This doesn't compute. If you tell me I can't physically go to church, you prevent me from having communion. That's a stricter restriction than "you can go, but you have to be more than 6 feet away from anyone else" or "you can go, but have to wear a mask and can't sing".
Music is allowed and a good number of churches will have a singing group who will replace congregational singing
A singing group does not replace congregational singing. They are very different things. (It would be easy to take a cheap shot at the widespread Catholic reluctance to sing in church here. I'll restrain myself )
It might replace it in the timetabling sense (cf. "The Great Escape" replaced the screening of the test match, which was cancelled) but it does not replace it in a functional sense. It is better, IMO, to merely say "we will not have congregational singing" - which means you have a said, rather than sung mass, for example.
A singing group does not replace congregational singing. They are very different things. It might replace it in the timetabling sense but it does not replace it in a functional sense. It is better, IMO, to merely say "we will not have congregational singing" - which means you have a said, rather than sung mass, for example.
Each church will have to decide what's best for their context.
If France tries, I suspect it may stick in the throats (hah!) of more than just Catholics, as unlike simply closing churches down, it would constitute interfering in the actual mechanics of religious practice itself.
This doesn't compute. If you tell me I can't physically go to church, you prevent me from having communion. That's a stricter restriction than "you can go, but you have to be more than 6 feet away from anyone else" or "you can go, but have to wear a mask and can't sing".
We'll see, but I think from a French standpoint "you can't sing" would be interpreted as meddling in worship practices in a way distancing wouldn't. As for recording attendees' details in a register, of course I can see the point but it's a big blow against religious freedoms and pretty much an end to the casual visitor, I'd say.
The lockdown restrictions have just been eased here in Australia, with visiting permitted from people outside the family. Our rector is now organising to visit parishioners who have been isolated, and offer communion to small house groups within the limits. So tomorrow Mrs BA and myself will go to the house of the lady whom we normally chauffeur to church, and the three of us will receive communion with appropriate sanitising. Our friend has been very depressed in her isolation so we hope this will be a boost for her.
The bishops of New South Wales have declared that church buildings should remain closed in this first stage of easing, and our own diocesan has issued a detailed procedure for parishes to develop social distancing and cleaning plans which he must approve before we can re-open, so I can see the house groups continuing for several weeks, with Sunday Morning Prayer via Zoom.
The UK may eventually follow those lines, to a degree (not sure where we'd put a plexiglass screen in Our Place!), but we could manage the distancing, and probably a small singing group as well. Our organ (and piano) are to one side of the nave, in the south aisle, so there is room for 2-3 people, as well as the organist/pianist, to keep well apart from the congregation, and each other.
I wonder if it would be all right for the priest to simply stand at the chancel step with the ciborium, handing out the hosts to the Faithful as they come up in a line, 2 metres apart from each other?
If he stretches out his arm to place the host in the communicant's outstretched hand, at least there would be a certain space between them! I envisage the priest wearing protective gloves whilst handling the hosts, BTW, if that's an acceptable practice.
That isn’t much different from what we were planning to do on Sunday 22nd March, the first Sunday of the lockdown. We had already decided to stop all midweek services and just continue with our Sunday Parish Mass. It never happened because before that date churches were told to close their doors.
With our fairly large Victorian building and a congregation of only around 12 it would have been easy to socially distance ourselves. We had been planning to receive communion by standing spaced out in a large circle around our altar, which could have easily been achieved with our small numbers.
What will happen when we can finally reopen our church I have no idea. My greatest fear is that I will be the only person there. I suppose that I could unlock the door, sit at our small keyboard and play a few hymns, say a few prayers and then go home. If the over 70’s and those who have underlying health issues are not able to attend, as a mere 63 year old I will be the only one there. The only person we have under the age of 60 is shielding because she had a kidney transplant about 10 years ago.
When you only have a congregation of between 12 and 15 people it’s easy to almost know about every persons circumstances. When you begin to consider all of our people in their 70’s and their 80’s we have 2 with dementia, one with heart problems, a couple of diabetics, one person who recently had a leg amputated and one who is caring for her 96 year old mother. Our 4 retired clergy, who lead our services are reasonably healthy but are all aged between 75 and 85.
Very sad after our small elderly congregation have been so faithful during what has now been 9 difficult years without a priest. They have never given up and have attended mass through all hardships. Even with our small numbers we have maintained a full Sung Mass throughout and almost all of our people also attend our Tuesday morning Mass.
I know that lots of exciting things have been happening with live streamed services etc in larger churches with younger computer literate congregations and clergy. Many of our people don’t even do text messages and certainly do not have computers to go online.
I would now hate to think that after all this faithfulness it was the Coronavirus that finally closed our church rather than the diocese denying us even a part time priest for all these years.
Very sad, @Pseudo Organist , but I hope things do not turn out as ill as you fear.
Open the church, by all means, as and when you are allowed to do so. You never know - there might be people around, who haven't been to your church before, but who may be glad to find it open and welcoming.
It may also be the case that others, unable for various reasons to get to their 'own' church, will find their way to you instead. IOW, you could end up with a larger congregation than before!
BTW - clearly, your tradition is to have a Mass each Sunday. If this is not possible in the future, open up anyway, and on those days when you can't have Mass, have Morning Prayer, or A Service of the Word, or Communion from the Reserved Sacrament (if your Bishop will allow it).
Apparently, some restrictions are coming off today. With its typical imprecise use of the English language, the commonwealth government did not make it clear whether we were allowed to go up to half occupancy (which I would regard as extremely foolhardy in the present circumstances) or up to what our buildings will take with individuals and family groups observing the 6' spacing provided we do not go over 50% occupancy. I am sure it is the latter because the 6' spacing is such a basic piece of common-sense transmission prevention that to compromise it is stupid.
Other than that there are no restrictions other than those of common sense, but we won't be passing the plate, or doing anything that infringes the 6' separation, which will make communion a bit awkward, but no matter. So it will be Sung Communion and Evensong on Sunday. Small church in large building has its advantages sometimes.
As for the rest, between the conspiracy theorists and the 'we're-all-gonna-die' brigade, I am so sick of coronavirus and Covid-19 I ready to think and talk about something else.
First time holding a coffee hour over zoom and yes it affected it. Fortunately, the real technophobes did not email me for admittance until I was in the middle of sorting out the chaos with help of Fr.
Well, as of the middle of the night, religious gatherings, with appropriate measures, are once again allowed here. (See here).
The timing is a complete surprise and will have everybody scrambling to know what to do. We're certainly sticking with virtual church tomorrow at least while we get our act together.
There'll be a lot of rushing around by sacristans, vergers, priests, ministers, and imams today, but hopefully it'll all work out OK for those places that do re-open.
BTW, FatherInCharge has just emailed us to tell us about the Walsingham Mass being live-streamed on Monday (it's the day when the National Pilgrimage would normally be held).
He urges us to watch the service, and to fast for an hour before making our 'spiritual communion'.
Eh? What on earth is he thinking? Has anyone any idea how to fast spiritually?
Yes, confused indeed. I tend to think of spiritual communion as a spiritual fast. It puts our desire for the communion of the eucharist in sharp focus in a way that fasting does for our human desires.
Yes, it's a bit vague. 40 infected, most not seriously ill, but no indication as to whether they were all at the service on 10th May.
If they carried out all the regulations etc., as one presumes they did, it doesn't bode well for the future of worship in churches.
The report tells us that Trump, of course, just ploughs on regardless, with no thought for the thousands who might die because he thinks churches are 'essential'. Maybe they are, if you want to kill off yet more of your population.
He urges us to watch the service, and to fast for an hour before making our 'spiritual communion'.
Eh? What on earth is he thinking? Has anyone any idea how to fast spiritually?
How on earth do you parse that? He's asking you to fast (physically) for an hour before making a spiritual communion at the appropriate point in the service. Rather than, for example, rolling up to watch the service with a mug of coffee or some snacks.
Basically, he's saying "spiritual communion is real communion. Treat it like it is."
He urges us to watch the service, and to fast for an hour before making our 'spiritual communion'.
Eh? What on earth is he thinking? Has anyone any idea how to fast spiritually?
How on earth do you parse that? He's asking you to fast (physically) for an hour before making a spiritual communion at the appropriate point in the service. Rather than, for example, rolling up to watch the service with a mug of coffee or some snacks.
Basically, he's saying "spiritual communion is real communion. Treat it like it is."
However...no-one has yet fully explained to my satisfaction the reason for fasting before Communion, anyway...but that's perhaps not relevant to this thread (and I think we've discussed it ad nauseam before).
However...no-one has yet fully explained to my satisfaction the reason for fasting before Communion, anyway...but that's perhaps not relevant to this thread (and I think we've discussed it ad nauseam before).
I thought FInC was just going a bit OTT...
Story from an African missionary I knew who saw a boy eating a banana in his way to Church.
Priest - Why are you eating that banana just before Mass?
Lad - It is better for Jesus to sit on a banana than for a banana to sit on Jesus.
BTW, I've linked to this video on another thread, but it's a film of the Easter Sunday morning Eucharist at Uppsala Cathedral, Church of Sweden (which is Lutheran). https://youtube.com/watch?v=NKQsXPr-h4o
It's quite long, and (naturally) in Swedish, but it does show what might be done in English cathedrals and larger churches in due course, once some restrictions are lifted.
I think the smallish congregation is about the maximum permitted, social distancing is observed, the clergy do a thorough job of hand-washing, and Communion is received in one kind. Singing is led by a small group, but it sounds as if the congregation do join in.
Mind you, the magnificent Uppsala Cathedral has plenty of space in which to move around, and still observe social distancing! It looks to m as if it's less than 2 metres, but Sweden has rather done its own thing during the pandemic. Whether they are right to do so is another matter...
Just to report that we've been allowed church gatherings again since May 31, we actually started on June 7th after a technical team had done three weeks' work on how to do it.
One person per 4sqm of floor space, maximum, hand gel, masks for all at all times except "as ritual requires", one way trafic in and out, etc. No kids' work as yet until we work out how to do it. Enforcing all this is difficult as it is much more draconian than, say, restaurants and shops, but then again we are together for longer and doing things like singing. It's hard to educate people about this.
We're lucky in that our building is a lot larger than our current congregation. Many places have gone for multiple services (which means disinfection) and pre-registration. Word has it that some places went for it on May 31 and have given up and returned to Zoom, which to my mind is like going back to Egypt. Another problem is that some vulnerable people can't return for health reasons, so we have started streaming to our church website via FB, which is a sort of degraded virtual church but better than nothing. It's really hard to keep up the virtual stuff for those who can't make it once people are back to something like normal life, and that has led to big discussions about how much effort we can/should make long term in that direction.
Alas, we're not allowed to have music or singing yet, but at least we're not required to wear masks - at the moment, anyway. It's a bit uncomfortable singing behind a mask, surely?
Keeping up the virtual provision is going to be difficult for many, but no doubt C of E places will get round the problem by appointing another sub-Committee of the Parochial Church Council!
It's a bit uncomfortable singing behind a mask, surely?
Disposable masks (alas) are a lot better in this respect than cloth masks (my policy in this brave new world is a cloth mask when I don't have to do much talking, and disposable masks when I do). I find the main problem is that it seems to make me very thirsty.
The thing is that there's plenty of evidence that singing appears to be as bad as sneezing in terms of potentially spreading the virus, and most churches are keen not to make the headlines in this respect. (There's a baptist church in Frankfurt that became a new hotspot in early May by flouting this rule).
Like a say, there is a lot of education and change management involved to explain why we've implemented what we have, especially as the restrictions are more severe than out in the wider world. Doing this educating has made the on-site experience much more relaxed than I'd feared, though.
Comments
It is supposed to be our General Convention (darn, I hate that term!) year, but it is has been postponed to October. I do not see a practical way of doing it online, and what is remarkable is that no-one has even suggested it. The whole thing is a bit of a bummer because it was supposed to be the GC when we finally started work on abolishing GC and replacing it with a unicameral General Synod.
They would be far from the first to reopen for worship. We missed two weeks whilst we sorted out the contradictory advice and commands from the State, and waited to see whether we were going to have a significant outbreak. We missed Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday, but have been up and running courtesy of the sign-up sheet since Good Friday.
Most other congregations have found some way of meeting with the result that we have two doing parking lot services, and three meeting in small groups. There are advantages to being small, and they could be meeting for worship now if they would employ a bit of ingenuity. Instead they are supinely waiting for the government to declare normality, which I have a suspicion the government is not going to do in the foreseeable future.
Note that there are little rooved booths in the Ezrat Nashim/ Women's Section
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSCc8Ycp1s8&feature=emb_logo
St Augustine "He who sings prays twice."
Singing is about using the whole person, body, mind and spirit in prayer. Not just the mind and spirit.
OTOH, a complete lack of singing and/or music would be an impoverishment. One of our congregation has already said that she would find a Sunday 'Low' Mass rather too solemn, as she finds the hymns, and other music, uplifting.
It depends on what may, or may not, be allowed...
I'm happy ... my garden is full of two of NZ's most musical birds, tui and korimako (bellbird) who are reversing the traditional role of humanity singing "on behalf of" creation ... and saving me from what is often the glum cacophony in the churches I oversee ... I meanwhile can sing in the shower or in my head (and in the latter I get the notes right).
If France tries, I suspect it may stick in the throats (hah!) of more than just Catholics, as unlike simply closing churches down, it would constitute interfering in the actual mechanics of religious practice itself.
Either way, I'm now getting a working group up and running to look at how we could reorganise our spirituality to do without communal singing on a Sunday and still have something that resembles us. That's a huge challenge, but when I see how much our online Sunday meeting resembles us, I'm confident they'll come up with something workable.
Not singing would, as I said, be an impoverishment, albeit hopefully only for a short time...
The history of the French Republics suggests that would not be a barrier. The Government would say this is a matter of public health not of religious belief and, after all, closing places of worship is a much greater interference in the 'mechanics of religious practice'.
I've been surprised before, but I'd be very surprised if a ban on singing in church was made French government policy.
[ETA and if it was, there would be huge howls of protest on the above grounds]
This was certainly the situation in Germany until recently with one major difference that people were able privately to access the sacraments.
The new rules in Germany in force since the 1st of May allow for public worship under the following conditions :
1. hygiene and distancing rules must be observed
2. there should only be one entrance used into the building
3. names and contact details should be taken of those entering for public worship
4. when the allotted number is reached concerning space and distancing no-one else is allowed to come in
5. there should be no congregational singing.
Music is allowed and a good number of churches will have a singing group who will replace congregational singing
People from the same household may sit together but otherwise strict distancing
domradio.de website shows a solemn celebration for the Fifth Sunday of Easter in Cologne cathedral. There is a small choir far away from the rest of the participants.
the 100 or so participants are seated one or two in each row
Holy Communion is administered via a plexiglass screen.
A building such as Cologne cathedral has a great amount of flexible place which can be used to good advantage in these strange days.
I wonder if it would be all right for the priest to simply stand at the chancel step with the ciborium, handing out the hosts to the Faithful as they come up in a line, 2 metres apart from each other?
If he stretches out his arm to place the host in the communicant's outstretched hand, at least there would be a certain space between them! I envisage the priest wearing protective gloves whilst handling the hosts, BTW, if that's an acceptable practice.
That isn’t much different from what we were planning to do on Sunday 22nd March, the first Sunday of the lockdown. We had already decided to stop all midweek services and just continue with our Sunday Parish Mass. It never happened because before that date churches were told to close their doors.
With our fairly large Victorian building and a congregation of only around 12 it would have been easy to socially distance ourselves. We had been planning to receive communion by standing spaced out in a large circle around our altar, which could have easily been achieved with our small numbers.
What will happen when we can finally reopen our church I have no idea. My greatest fear is that I will be the only person there. I suppose that I could unlock the door, sit at our small keyboard and play a few hymns, say a few prayers and then go home. If the over 70’s and those who have underlying health issues are not able to attend, as a mere 63 year old I will be the only one there. The only person we have under the age of 60 is shielding because she had a kidney transplant about 10 years ago.
When you only have a congregation of between 12 and 15 people it’s easy to almost know about every persons circumstances. When you begin to consider all of our people in their 70’s and their 80’s we have 2 with dementia, one with heart problems, a couple of diabetics, one person who recently had a leg amputated and one who is caring for her 96 year old mother. Our 4 retired clergy, who lead our services are reasonably healthy but are all aged between 75 and 85.
Very sad after our small elderly congregation have been so faithful during what has now been 9 difficult years without a priest. They have never given up and have attended mass through all hardships. Even with our small numbers we have maintained a full Sung Mass throughout and almost all of our people also attend our Tuesday morning Mass.
I know that lots of exciting things have been happening with live streamed services etc in larger churches with younger computer literate congregations and clergy. Many of our people don’t even do text messages and certainly do not have computers to go online.
I would now hate to think that after all this faithfulness it was the Coronavirus that finally closed our church rather than the diocese denying us even a part time priest for all these years.
This doesn't compute. If you tell me I can't physically go to church, you prevent me from having communion. That's a stricter restriction than "you can go, but you have to be more than 6 feet away from anyone else" or "you can go, but have to wear a mask and can't sing".
A singing group does not replace congregational singing. They are very different things. (It would be easy to take a cheap shot at the widespread Catholic reluctance to sing in church here. I'll restrain myself
It might replace it in the timetabling sense (cf. "The Great Escape" replaced the screening of the test match, which was cancelled) but it does not replace it in a functional sense. It is better, IMO, to merely say "we will not have congregational singing" - which means you have a said, rather than sung mass, for example.
We'll see, but I think from a French standpoint "you can't sing" would be interpreted as meddling in worship practices in a way distancing wouldn't. As for recording attendees' details in a register, of course I can see the point but it's a big blow against religious freedoms and pretty much an end to the casual visitor, I'd say.
The bishops of New South Wales have declared that church buildings should remain closed in this first stage of easing, and our own diocesan has issued a detailed procedure for parishes to develop social distancing and cleaning plans which he must approve before we can re-open, so I can see the house groups continuing for several weeks, with Sunday Morning Prayer via Zoom.
Very sad, @Pseudo Organist , but I hope things do not turn out as ill as you fear.
Open the church, by all means, as and when you are allowed to do so. You never know - there might be people around, who haven't been to your church before, but who may be glad to find it open and welcoming.
It may also be the case that others, unable for various reasons to get to their 'own' church, will find their way to you instead. IOW, you could end up with a larger congregation than before!
BTW - clearly, your tradition is to have a Mass each Sunday. If this is not possible in the future, open up anyway, and on those days when you can't have Mass, have Morning Prayer, or A Service of the Word, or Communion from the Reserved Sacrament (if your Bishop will allow it).
Other than that there are no restrictions other than those of common sense, but we won't be passing the plate, or doing anything that infringes the 6' separation, which will make communion a bit awkward, but no matter. So it will be Sung Communion and Evensong on Sunday. Small church in large building has its advantages sometimes.
As for the rest, between the conspiracy theorists and the 'we're-all-gonna-die' brigade, I am so sick of coronavirus and Covid-19 I ready to think and talk about something else.
We had after service Zoom coffee at about 10.30 with no problems.
TPTB may get all gooey and gushing about the wonders of Online Church, but there's nothing more useless than machinery which doesn't go...
The timing is a complete surprise and will have everybody scrambling to know what to do. We're certainly sticking with virtual church tomorrow at least while we get our act together.
There'll be a lot of rushing around by sacristans, vergers, priests, ministers, and imams today, but hopefully it'll all work out OK for those places that do re-open.
He urges us to watch the service, and to fast for an hour before making our 'spiritual communion'.
Eh? What on earth is he thinking? Has anyone any idea how to fast spiritually?
(unfortunately short on detail of what the conditions were like...)
If they carried out all the regulations etc., as one presumes they did, it doesn't bode well for the future of worship in churches.
The report tells us that Trump, of course, just ploughs on regardless, with no thought for the thousands who might die because he thinks churches are 'essential'. Maybe they are, if you want to kill off yet more of your population.
Sorry, wrong thread...
How on earth do you parse that? He's asking you to fast (physically) for an hour before making a spiritual communion at the appropriate point in the service. Rather than, for example, rolling up to watch the service with a mug of coffee or some snacks.
Basically, he's saying "spiritual communion is real communion. Treat it like it is."
However...no-one has yet fully explained to my satisfaction the reason for fasting before Communion, anyway...but that's perhaps not relevant to this thread (and I think we've discussed it ad nauseam before).
I thought FInC was just going a bit OTT...
Story from an African missionary I knew who saw a boy eating a banana in his way to Church.
Priest - Why are you eating that banana just before Mass?
Lad - It is better for Jesus to sit on a banana than for a banana to sit on Jesus.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NKQsXPr-h4o
It's quite long, and (naturally) in Swedish, but it does show what might be done in English cathedrals and larger churches in due course, once some restrictions are lifted.
I think the smallish congregation is about the maximum permitted, social distancing is observed, the clergy do a thorough job of hand-washing, and Communion is received in one kind. Singing is led by a small group, but it sounds as if the congregation do join in.
Mind you, the magnificent Uppsala Cathedral has plenty of space in which to move around, and still observe social distancing! It looks to m as if it's less than 2 metres, but Sweden has rather done its own thing during the pandemic. Whether they are right to do so is another matter...
One person per 4sqm of floor space, maximum, hand gel, masks for all at all times except "as ritual requires", one way trafic in and out, etc. No kids' work as yet until we work out how to do it. Enforcing all this is difficult as it is much more draconian than, say, restaurants and shops, but then again we are together for longer and doing things like singing. It's hard to educate people about this.
We're lucky in that our building is a lot larger than our current congregation. Many places have gone for multiple services (which means disinfection) and pre-registration. Word has it that some places went for it on May 31 and have given up and returned to Zoom, which to my mind is like going back to Egypt. Another problem is that some vulnerable people can't return for health reasons, so we have started streaming to our church website via FB, which is a sort of degraded virtual church but better than nothing. It's really hard to keep up the virtual stuff for those who can't make it once people are back to something like normal life, and that has led to big discussions about how much effort we can/should make long term in that direction.
Alas, we're not allowed to have music or singing yet, but at least we're not required to wear masks - at the moment, anyway. It's a bit uncomfortable singing behind a mask, surely?
Keeping up the virtual provision is going to be difficult for many, but no doubt C of E places will get round the problem by appointing another sub-Committee of the Parochial Church Council!
The thing is that there's plenty of evidence that singing appears to be as bad as sneezing in terms of potentially spreading the virus, and most churches are keen not to make the headlines in this respect. (There's a baptist church in Frankfurt that became a new hotspot in early May by flouting this rule).
Like a say, there is a lot of education and change management involved to explain why we've implemented what we have, especially as the restrictions are more severe than out in the wider world. Doing this educating has made the on-site experience much more relaxed than I'd feared, though.