UK churches can now open for private prayer. Our place (CofE) says we will possibly open at the beginning of July as there is lots to be considered. I find this rather disappointing as we've known for several weeks that this would be the first stage and would have hoped that we might be ahead of the game.
Wells Cathedral has opened today and as I'm about 30 minutes drive away I visited this afternoon. There were only a dozen of us in there, so social distancing in the vast space was no problem. A one way route has been marked out, and certain parts such as the Chapter House (where nearly everyone would touch the handrail to navigate the steep, worn steps) are not open. No cafe or shop available yet.
The Cathedral has produced a ten minute YouTube video giving a virtual tour which shows how the precautions put in place effect the experience.
I think most visitors were there as tourists rather than for "private prayer & teflection", but I found it a moving spiritual experience to be back in a building where God has been worshipped for centuries.
I can understand the reluctance to provide seating, as there is a risk from hard surfaces that may be touched. But would it not be possible to have at least a few chairs and/or kneeling desks, with sanitary wipes and instructions to wipe them after use? Ambulatory prayer is all very well, but I'm sure many people would value a place to be still.
@angloid If you're referring to the Wells video, the only places to sit were some stone ledges, which I took advantage of to pray in the Lady Chapel. There were some wooden benches outside in the Palm Churchyard and Camery Garden off the cloisters which were pleasant spots to sit and reflect.
We're opening next weekend, but only Wednesday and Sunday, to reduce the cleaning. There will be a one-way system in and out. People who shouldn't be mingling have been asked to stay away.
The sort of guidance I’ve seen doesn’t really allow you to assume that people will wipe surfaces clean after use. There is also an expectation that the place will be supervised while open, and dome have said (but I’ve not seen) there may be a requirement to keep a register of some kind.
The requirements I have seen about cleaning also look quite demanding.
We’re going to have to think carefully about this as most of our welcomers and cleaners are in vulnerable groups and a number are shielding.
Surfaces seem to be more dangerous in the UK than in France... our in-house doctors seem to reckon that if we don't have more than one meeting a week in the venue (or same part of the venue), we'll be OK.
Yes. I’m sure that’s all right. Our building is of historical interest and in a tourist area, so there’s pressure to open through the week.
IMO our usual services, including midweek, could be accommodated without creating a major cleaning challenge - but not being generally open to visitors (for prayer or otherwise) through the week.
One thing we've wrestled with (and for prison chaplaincy Covid restrictions, considered going to law over) is comparability and proportionality. I can see the case for more stringent requirements because of groups being together for longer periods and/or singing, but when it comes to surfaces, I don't think supermarkets have been deep-cleaning their stores or trolleys overnight, or are required to do so. In stores here it's a case of the ritual hand sanitising on the way in (and for the sensible, once you're out) and strong encouragement to wear a mask.
but when it comes to surfaces, I don't think supermarkets have been deep-cleaning their stores or trolleys overnight, or are required to do so. In stores here it's a case of the ritual hand sanitising on the way in (and for the sensible, once you're out) and strong encouragement to wear a mask.
Our local Waitrose cleans the trolleys with disinfectant after every use; they spray rows of trolleys. But, I agree, other surfaces don’t seem to get cleaned.
Next week the church I attend is going back to full open, Following national church instructions we are told that, Hand sanitizers to be used coming in and going out, 3 people per pew unless family members, masks to be worn, no singing but humming encouraged. wave at the peace, and leave in order last rows first. Sounds like a plan but knowing the pastor and people, I am guessing there will be not much follow though on any of this. I hope I am wrong. I plan to stay home.
In our Australian diocese, our churches are now completely open. Two churches have 2 eucharists per week, while the other is only Sunday. Cleaning is recommended to be done with a 2-in-1 detergent/disinfectant, and we are cleaning just before each service, with the building locked in between times, as the advice here is that the virus will die on hard services in a few days. Capacity limits to be observed at 4 sq m per person. Hand sanitiser is to be used at the door, a register is taken and submitted to the diocesan office on a weekly basis, social distancing is observed with pews roped off and signage on the others. No singing but quiet music is played, no peace and the host is offered on the paten for communicants to take. The priest sanitises her hands immediately prior to administering and again immediately after. The congregation is encouraged to leave the church precincts immediately afterwards. In the limited services over the last couple of weeks, these conditions have been well-observed. Our rate of infection in this town has been minuscule - a couple of returning cruise passengers - so we are trying to keep it that way.
the host is offered on the paten for communicants to take.
That seems strange. How do you prevent communicants' fingers from touching the other hosts or the paten itself? The clearest advice I have seen (I think from the Italian RC bishops) is for the priest to sanitise his (sic, in that context) hands, don gloves, and then place the host in the communicant's hand without touching. The general advice everywhere seems to be that the presiding priest should normally be the only person to administer the sacrament.
In our setting, with wee cuppies, we have placed individual pieces of bread in a second wee cuppie, and everybody serves themselves from a tray. The tray is prepared by one person who has taken suitable precautions.
It's a difficult time of year in general for our numbers, but those of us who turn up are very happy to be there. The disruption is real but people are relaxed about it. Education is the key.
(All that said, I'm sitting in a secular meeting right now with similar numbers, room size, and meeting duration - longer if anything - and only I and my interpreter colleague are wearing masks, despite the Préfet (the highest enforcing authority in the county) chairing the meeting... I think these people think they are immune to the virus but are obviously not immune to social pressure).
@Eutychus said ' Those of us who turn up are very happy to be there'
Good! That's the important point, I think. We are to be open for a couple of Sunday mornings for private prayer only, and may probably only see a handful of The Faithful, but the building will be available, prayer will be offered (silently!), and the PCC will gain some useful experience in organising signage, one-way systems, door-handle cleaning etc.!
Surfaces seem to be more dangerous in the UK than in France... our in-house doctors seem to reckon that if we don't have more than one meeting a week in the venue (or same part of the venue), we'll be OK.
You will be safe, if leave 72 hours between uses, is the advice being given here. So one meeitng a week would be considered ok.
Of course the advice is still to follow all the social distancing etc during use.
the host is offered on the paten for communicants to take.
That seems strange. How do you prevent communicants' fingers from touching the other hosts or the paten itself? The clearest advice I have seen (I think from the Italian RC bishops) is for the priest to sanitise his (sic, in that context) hands, don gloves, and then place the host in the communicant's hand without touching. The general advice everywhere seems to be that the presiding priest should normally be the only person to administer the sacrament.
Small congregations, so hosts are arranged on the paten in one layer. Priest rotates the paten so the communicant, who has also sanitised hands on entry, can slide the host off with fingertip without touching any other host or the surface of the paten. The advice here is specific that gloves for repeated use are a source of contamination, so the priest would have to change gloves for every communicant.
A plan was agreed for our place to be open for private prayer for three hours one day a week. Then it was changed to just one hour, the hour being the time of the midweek Communion service in normal times.
It seems to me that this could result in a bit of a traffic jam if too many people try to come and go in that hour, whereas spread over three would be easier.
I can only think there are not enough people to supervise the building for three hours.
We're opening (initially) for just one-and-a-half hours, on Sunday mornings, and I doubt if there'll be much traffic to worry about! FatherInCharge is to be The Supervisor/Traffic Warden/Recording Angel...
The PCC has introduced a one-way system - in at the north (main) door, and out at the south (vestry) door - which should work OK.
Could your place @Puzzler perhaps manage 90 minutes, or even two hours? One hour does seem a bit short.
Well as usual Bishop’s Finger, a clear plan was devised and agreed virtually, then changed unilaterally. I am not going to stir things up any more but I shall not be going during the appointed hour, though I might have done if there had been a three hour slot.
It is too risky.
With just an hour I foresee little quiet and much chatter as people see each other for the first time in three months.
We have an hour most days and two on Sunday. In one entrance, and out via a different one. Stewards, hand wash, no paper things (books, leaflets etc.) Areas roped off.
Stewards must be under 70. This might encourage some of the younger folk to step forward. We get 300 at Sunday Masses but almost everything seems to be run by the over 70s.
Thanks! Noted re The Yoof, but was the attendance otherwise encouraging?
I ask, because anecdotal evidence in this part of the UK seems to indicate that returnees will be very thin on the ground, at least to start with.
The little church I attend when not on the road had a full roll out on the first two open Sundays (I had to miss the third as roads were too icy for safe driving or walking). However in this run-down little congregation "full complement" is far from a full house - about 14 in a building that could house about 80. Communion was in one kind (presider excepted) and placed in socially distanced hands by the presider. Singing was sung.
The diocesan regulations have since then re-permitted the common cup but obviously optionally. Dipping is verboten (hallelujah!).* I am arguing that what I understood to be intinction, as against the nasty post-HIV-pandemic practice of inserting grubby nose- and other orifice-wiping mitts in the cup, should be re-emphasized ... that is to say the presider touching each wafer with a minuscule drop of the consecrated wine. That practice seems to be weirdly foreign to this province though.
I popped into my local C of E village church (they are now open on Tuesdays and Saturdays 10am - 12 noon, for private prayer), and said Midday Prayer (silently).
They've carried out all the C of E's requirements/commandments AFAICS, and although there were only 5 people present whilst I was there, it was good to be back in a House of God.
I'm not sure when they're having their first Unlock Eucharist - probably not until July.
Our cathedral's open for private prayer now too, but it sounds slightly daunting - the website says you will be greeted by a "friendly Prayer Enabler". I'm not sure I need to be enabled to pray (except of course by the Holy Spirit), though I'm glad that the Enabler is friendly...
I’m guessing someone to “enable” you to come in the building. Here, such a person might take your temperature, ask you to use hand sanitizer, ask the questions that if you answer “yes,” to any you’re asked to go home, and remind you to wear a mask and keep distance.
St Obscures is open for 2 hours six days a week. The seating is thoroughly cleaned afterwards. That took the other volunteer and me about three-quarters of an hour even after the session, mind you, we are under instruction to be less thorough. We have a maximum of six people for prayer with two to three volunteer stewards. A further restriction of only two people in the lady chapel at any time and only four pews in the nave to sit on (two at the front and two at the back; we actually need to change that so the back ones are about three pews in otherwise there are problems with the sanitizing station) with one before the requiem altar & sacred heart statue. People need to wash hands before coming and expected to sanitize on arrival. Attendance is gentle. The numbers I have seen range from 3 to 8 over the two-hour sessions but we expect this to build. The stewards are in a roped off side aisle.
We also have a temporary bus stop right outside the church! I am not sure what that will do for numbers.
The official instructions for opening tomorrow have been sent round, and St Quacks has designated spots in the pews to sit in, with space in the side aisles for family groups to be together. We have been asked to not all turn up at 11 when it opens, and candles are restricted to the statue of Our Lady. Mass will have already been said by that time. There will be no books available, and we've been told to bring our own if we want a prayer book to use.
Not swarming to messianic rallies in Tulsa, either, but that may be a different thread
I was back at my local with a congregation of 13 ... and was surprised that most received the chalice, too (including me). I was more surprised - and actually mildly discomforted - by the return of the peace-handshake, which, although diocesan instructions made it clear is voluntary, is hard to avoid.
I've quite enjoyed being a germophobe (like Trump, apparently), but paradoxically missed the shared cup. Except when I was in churches, like our cathedral, where the last drip was administered to 30 people
Ah - see how important it is to go by the [1662] Book [of Common Prayer]!
Our Place opened yesterday morning for private prayer. I hear that about 10 people turned up (at various times during the 90 minutes), so a modest start.
Today,23rd June, is the National holiday in the Grand duchy of Luxembourg. - the celebration of the birthday of the Grand Duke. As in Belgium (21st July) the day is celebrated with a Te Deum.
Covid 19 has caused the cancellation of the Te Deum in the cathedral as the choir had not had enough time to practise.
There was, however, a drive-in Te Deum at an open air cinema in Petange, a small,mainly /French speaking, town in the Grand Duchy with a mass blessing of cars afterwards.
Apparently the Anglican church in Luxembourg city also has an( Anglican) Te Deum,but it seems that it is not on the cards for this year.
After a drive in Te Deum in Luxembourg, the Belgian News today reports a drive in Graduation ceremony for the students of the Ecole des Soeurs de la Providence in Namur.
The school took over an empty parking lot, The students, many of them in their finery for the Leavers' Ball ,arrived with their family and each was called up individually to receive their certificate. The actual Ball (Bal de la Rhéto) had to be cancelled due to covid.
'RTL today 'will give you ,in English, an article about the cancellation of the Te Deum in the cathedral.
Te Deum a Petange will give you a few photographs of the Te Deum in Petange.,as well as 100s of other pictures of Te Deum s.
I saw it on RTBF Journal de 13 Heures but you have to sign up (doesn't cost anything) to see past editions.
Little Methodist church in town was open for service for the first time last Sunday. I watched via live stream. Looks like they did everything right with hand sanitizer as you entered, masks required, 2 to a pew unless family. every other pew blocked off, no singing but humming allowed. No peace passed, leave service one row at a time starting at the back. I am still not ready to go into a small building with no windows for an hour. It looked as if 13 people were there. One was a visiting District Supervisor and one was a new visitor.
The Welsh churches are just starting to open up. I think I might wait until at least someone starts playing the organ again and maybe just attend Evensong when services restart. The buildings really come alive when there is music.
We open up for Mass on Sunday, with all the regulations as laid down by the C of E being observed, so it'll be interesting to see how it works. Fortunately, we have plenty of space in which to move around, as well as a main (north) door to come in by, and a secondary (south) door by which to leave.
Communion in one kind, carefully dropped into the communicant's hand;
Communicants queuing, and keeping 2 metres apart whilst so doing;
One person acting as lector (OT/Psalm/NT/Gospel Acclamation), and also leading the Bidding Prayers (to avoid too many people using the lectern and its microphone);
No exchange of the Peace;
No singing (but organ/piano music is OK);
No coffee-hour after service;
No toys/books etc. in the children's area, but families are welcome to 'bring their own' as long as they take them away;
Single-use weekly news sheet (with Bible readings), to be picked up on entry, and taken away after service;
Mass booklet available if required, to be picked up, and left near the exit (this is OK, it seems, if the booklet is not needed again for at least 48 hours);
Churchwarden noting names in 'Track & Trace' book, just in case...
FatherInCharge is also going to hold a Low Mass on Thursdays, which will be held in a chapel, and not in the nave.
On looking at what I've written, it all sounds rather austere...but the Word will be read, and preached, Prayer offered, and the Sacrament received.
@Bishops Finger that is much the same routine under which we have been operating for the last three Sundays and for our two midweek eucharists, with the addition of some recorded music where an instrumentalist is not available. It has worked well, and people are gradually returning to worship. We are now permitted to open our parish hall to outside groups, so the grandparents' support group [for those raising grandchildren] and Sunrise Rotary Club are likely to regularly resume. Children's programs remain on hold.
We are fortunate that here in New South Wales all of our current cases, which are very few indeed [only 8 overnight], are returnees from overseas who are in hotel quarantine. This has allowed us to resume earlier than anticipated, although with great caution.
We're not reopening the building (largish attendance, pews and limited in/out routes mitigate against distancing). Risk assessment is particularly tough and since we are a baptist church, the decision is down to the local leaders who will be responsible should there be one small breach of regulations and/or someone gets infected.
To open would mean ballots and/or tickets for places - the pastoral implications of that are significant. It seems too inclusive/exclusive to me. Plus those who are not IT savvy are most likely the ones who'd want to be in the most .... but then they are mostly 70+ or socially isolating for very good reasons. Also if we open and are full, I'd have to turn people away if they come without a "ticket" I have never turned anyone away ever, and never want to do so.
We seem to be forgetting how Sars was spread through church attendance. We'll wait until everyone can be in together.
We open up for Mass on Sunday, with all the regulations as laid down by the C of E being observed, so it'll be interesting to see how it works. Fortunately, we have plenty of space in which to move around, as well as a main (north) door to come in by, and a secondary (south) door by which to leave.
Communion in one kind, carefully dropped into the communicant's hand;
Communicants queuing, and keeping 2 metres apart whilst so doing;
One person acting as lector (OT/Psalm/NT/Gospel Acclamation), and also leading the Bidding Prayers (to avoid too many people using the lectern and its microphone);
No exchange of the Peace;
No singing (but organ/piano music is OK);
No coffee-hour after service;
No toys/books etc. in the children's area, but families are welcome to 'bring their own' as long as they take them away;
Single-use weekly news sheet (with Bible readings), to be picked up on entry, and taken away after service;
Mass booklet available if required, to be picked up, and left near the exit (this is OK, it seems, if the booklet is not needed again for at least 48 hours);
Churchwarden noting names in 'Track & Trace' book, just in case...
FatherInCharge is also going to hold a Low Mass on Thursdays, which will be held in a chapel, and not in the nave.
On looking at what I've written, it all sounds rather austere...but the Word will be read, and preached, Prayer offered, and the Sacrament received.
BF please review your policy on allowing children to bring their own toys .. a magnet for infections. Plus children should wash their hands for 20 secs on entering.
Also you need to isolate anything and everything for at least 72 hours not 48.
We open up for Mass on Sunday, with all the regulations as laid down by the C of E being observed, so it'll be interesting to see how it works. Fortunately, we have plenty of space in which to move around, as well as a main (north) door to come in by, and a secondary (south) door by which to leave.
Communion in one kind, carefully dropped into the communicant's hand;
Communicants queuing, and keeping 2 metres apart whilst so doing;
One person acting as lector (OT/Psalm/NT/Gospel Acclamation), and also leading the Bidding Prayers (to avoid too many people using the lectern and its microphone);
No exchange of the Peace;
No singing (but organ/piano music is OK);
No coffee-hour after service;
No toys/books etc. in the children's area, but families are welcome to 'bring their own' as long as they take them away;
Single-use weekly news sheet (with Bible readings), to be picked up on entry, and taken away after service;
Mass booklet available if required, to be picked up, and left near the exit (this is OK, it seems, if the booklet is not needed again for at least 48 hours);
Churchwarden noting names in 'Track & Trace' book, just in case...
FatherInCharge is also going to hold a Low Mass on Thursdays, which will be held in a chapel, and not in the nave.
On looking at what I've written, it all sounds rather austere...but the Word will be read, and preached, Prayer offered, and the Sacrament received.
BF please review your policy on allowing children to bring their own toys .. a magnet for infections. Plus children should wash their hands for 20 secs on entering.
Also you need to isolate anything and everything for at least 72 hours not 48.
Does the latter not depend on the material? 72 hours is for non-porous surfaces. Mass booklets (unless laminated) are porous and shouldn't need as long.
We open up for Mass on Sunday, with all the regulations as laid down by the C of E being observed, so it'll be interesting to see how it works. Fortunately, we have plenty of space in which to move around, as well as a main (north) door to come in by, and a secondary (south) door by which to leave.
Communion in one kind, carefully dropped into the communicant's hand;
Communicants queuing, and keeping 2 metres apart whilst so doing;
One person acting as lector (OT/Psalm/NT/Gospel Acclamation), and also leading the Bidding Prayers (to avoid too many people using the lectern and its microphone);
No exchange of the Peace;
No singing (but organ/piano music is OK);
No coffee-hour after service;
No toys/books etc. in the children's area, but families are welcome to 'bring their own' as long as they take them away;
Single-use weekly news sheet (with Bible readings), to be picked up on entry, and taken away after service;
Mass booklet available if required, to be picked up, and left near the exit (this is OK, it seems, if the booklet is not needed again for at least 48 hours);
Churchwarden noting names in 'Track & Trace' book, just in case...
FatherInCharge is also going to hold a Low Mass on Thursdays, which will be held in a chapel, and not in the nave.
On looking at what I've written, it all sounds rather austere...but the Word will be read, and preached, Prayer offered, and the Sacrament received.
BF please review your policy on allowing children to bring their own toys .. a magnet for infections. Plus children should wash their hands for 20 secs on entering.
Also you need to isolate anything and everything for at least 72 hours not 48.
Thanks, and thanks for your PM, to which I have replied.
Comments
Wells Cathedral has opened today and as I'm about 30 minutes drive away I visited this afternoon. There were only a dozen of us in there, so social distancing in the vast space was no problem. A one way route has been marked out, and certain parts such as the Chapter House (where nearly everyone would touch the handrail to navigate the steep, worn steps) are not open. No cafe or shop available yet.
The Cathedral has produced a ten minute YouTube video giving a virtual tour which shows how the precautions put in place effect the experience.
I think most visitors were there as tourists rather than for "private prayer & teflection", but I found it a moving spiritual experience to be back in a building where God has been worshipped for centuries.
The requirements I have seen about cleaning also look quite demanding.
We’re going to have to think carefully about this as most of our welcomers and cleaners are in vulnerable groups and a number are shielding.
IMO our usual services, including midweek, could be accommodated without creating a major cleaning challenge - but not being generally open to visitors (for prayer or otherwise) through the week.
That seems strange. How do you prevent communicants' fingers from touching the other hosts or the paten itself? The clearest advice I have seen (I think from the Italian RC bishops) is for the priest to sanitise his (sic, in that context) hands, don gloves, and then place the host in the communicant's hand without touching. The general advice everywhere seems to be that the presiding priest should normally be the only person to administer the sacrament.
I ask, because anecdotal evidence in this part of the UK seems to indicate that returnees will be very thin on the ground, at least to start with.
(All that said, I'm sitting in a secular meeting right now with similar numbers, room size, and meeting duration - longer if anything - and only I and my interpreter colleague are wearing masks, despite the Préfet (the highest enforcing authority in the county) chairing the meeting... I think these people think they are immune to the virus but are obviously not immune to social pressure).
Good! That's the important point, I think. We are to be open for a couple of Sunday mornings for private prayer only, and may probably only see a handful of The Faithful, but the building will be available, prayer will be offered (silently!), and the PCC will gain some useful experience in organising signage, one-way systems, door-handle cleaning etc.!
You will be safe, if leave 72 hours between uses, is the advice being given here. So one meeitng a week would be considered ok.
Of course the advice is still to follow all the social distancing etc during use.
Small congregations, so hosts are arranged on the paten in one layer. Priest rotates the paten so the communicant, who has also sanitised hands on entry, can slide the host off with fingertip without touching any other host or the surface of the paten. The advice here is specific that gloves for repeated use are a source of contamination, so the priest would have to change gloves for every communicant.
It seems to me that this could result in a bit of a traffic jam if too many people try to come and go in that hour, whereas spread over three would be easier.
I can only think there are not enough people to supervise the building for three hours.
The PCC has introduced a one-way system - in at the north (main) door, and out at the south (vestry) door - which should work OK.
Could your place @Puzzler perhaps manage 90 minutes, or even two hours? One hour does seem a bit short.
It is too risky.
With just an hour I foresee little quiet and much chatter as people see each other for the first time in three months.
Stewards must be under 70. This might encourage some of the younger folk to step forward. We get 300 at Sunday Masses but almost everything seems to be run by the over 70s.
Yes, I'm a bit concerned about that. In his weekly mailing, FatherInCharge has emphasised that the church is open on Sundays for SILENT prayer...
There may (if the weather is fine) be an opportunity for a bit of catch-up chat outside - observing whatever social distancing is required.
The little church I attend when not on the road had a full roll out on the first two open Sundays (I had to miss the third as roads were too icy for safe driving or walking). However in this run-down little congregation "full complement" is far from a full house - about 14 in a building that could house about 80. Communion was in one kind (presider excepted) and placed in socially distanced hands by the presider. Singing was sung.
The diocesan regulations have since then re-permitted the common cup but obviously optionally. Dipping is verboten (hallelujah!).* I am arguing that what I understood to be intinction, as against the nasty post-HIV-pandemic practice of inserting grubby nose- and other orifice-wiping mitts in the cup, should be re-emphasized ... that is to say the presider touching each wafer with a minuscule drop of the consecrated wine. That practice seems to be weirdly foreign to this province though.
The insertion of grubby mitts into the Chalice is indeed An Abomination, and is now definitely forbidden here TBTG!
For the first time since 15th March...
I popped into my local C of E village church (they are now open on Tuesdays and Saturdays 10am - 12 noon, for private prayer), and said Midday Prayer (silently).
They've carried out all the C of E's requirements/commandments AFAICS, and although there were only 5 people present whilst I was there, it was good to be back in a House of God.
I'm not sure when they're having their first Unlock Eucharist - probably not until July.
It may simply be Cathedral-speak for a 'sides-person' - just someone to point out any social-distancing or other issues!
We also have a temporary bus stop right outside the church! I am not sure what that will do for numbers.
I was back at my local with a congregation of 13 ... and was surprised that most received the chalice, too (including me). I was more surprised - and actually mildly discomforted - by the return of the peace-handshake, which, although diocesan instructions made it clear is voluntary, is hard to avoid.
I've quite enjoyed being a germophobe (like Trump, apparently), but paradoxically missed the shared cup. Except when I was in churches, like our cathedral, where the last drip was administered to 30 people
Our Place opened yesterday morning for private prayer. I hear that about 10 people turned up (at various times during the 90 minutes), so a modest start.
Covid 19 has caused the cancellation of the Te Deum in the cathedral as the choir had not had enough time to practise.
There was, however, a drive-in Te Deum at an open air cinema in Petange, a small,mainly /French speaking, town in the Grand Duchy with a mass blessing of cars afterwards.
Apparently the Anglican church in Luxembourg city also has an( Anglican) Te Deum,but it seems that it is not on the cards for this year.
The school took over an empty parking lot, The students, many of them in their finery for the Leavers' Ball ,arrived with their family and each was called up individually to receive their certificate. The actual Ball (Bal de la Rhéto) had to be cancelled due to covid.
Is there a handy link to the Te Deum in Petange? I tried, but RTL (which seems to be in Luxembourgeois) was very reluctant to download...
Te Deum a Petange will give you a few photographs of the Te Deum in Petange.,as well as 100s of other pictures of Te Deum s.
I saw it on RTBF Journal de 13 Heures but you have to sign up (doesn't cost anything) to see past editions.
Communion in one kind, carefully dropped into the communicant's hand;
Communicants queuing, and keeping 2 metres apart whilst so doing;
One person acting as lector (OT/Psalm/NT/Gospel Acclamation), and also leading the Bidding Prayers (to avoid too many people using the lectern and its microphone);
No exchange of the Peace;
No singing (but organ/piano music is OK);
No coffee-hour after service;
No toys/books etc. in the children's area, but families are welcome to 'bring their own' as long as they take them away;
Single-use weekly news sheet (with Bible readings), to be picked up on entry, and taken away after service;
Mass booklet available if required, to be picked up, and left near the exit (this is OK, it seems, if the booklet is not needed again for at least 48 hours);
Churchwarden noting names in 'Track & Trace' book, just in case...
FatherInCharge is also going to hold a Low Mass on Thursdays, which will be held in a chapel, and not in the nave.
On looking at what I've written, it all sounds rather austere...but the Word will be read, and preached, Prayer offered, and the Sacrament received.
We are fortunate that here in New South Wales all of our current cases, which are very few indeed [only 8 overnight], are returnees from overseas who are in hotel quarantine. This has allowed us to resume earlier than anticipated, although with great caution.
To open would mean ballots and/or tickets for places - the pastoral implications of that are significant. It seems too inclusive/exclusive to me. Plus those who are not IT savvy are most likely the ones who'd want to be in the most .... but then they are mostly 70+ or socially isolating for very good reasons. Also if we open and are full, I'd have to turn people away if they come without a "ticket" I have never turned anyone away ever, and never want to do so.
We seem to be forgetting how Sars was spread through church attendance. We'll wait until everyone can be in together.
BF please review your policy on allowing children to bring their own toys .. a magnet for infections. Plus children should wash their hands for 20 secs on entering.
Also you need to isolate anything and everything for at least 72 hours not 48.
Does the latter not depend on the material? 72 hours is for non-porous surfaces. Mass booklets (unless laminated) are porous and shouldn't need as long.
Thanks, and thanks for your PM, to which I have replied.