Newsletter for July 5th
This Sunday July 5th Mass will be celebrated again in public for the first time since March 15th. We want to welcome you all to a safe and fully prepared environment.
As you arrive you will be offered guidance for the safe conduct of our worship during this pandemic. Please refer to the simple Mass sheet on your pew. After Mass, please take all papers with you. We are also required by Government to compile a list of all names and contact details for Track and Trace. This information will be held for 21 days then destroyed.
Annual Parish Meeting – Sunday July 26th The APM will take place immediately after Mass. We hope that this will be the shortest APM on record, but we need to conduct the formal business of the parish as required by Canon Law. If you are interested in serving on the PCC, we have 9 vacant places to fill. Although we already have two applications for nomination for Churchwardens, the office is open to all who qualify under the Church Representation Rules 2020. We are also in need of a new PCC secretary and a new Safeguarding Officer following the sudden death of Liz Somers-James. Perhaps you have skills and gifts that could be put to the service of the Gospel, so why not talk with Fr Paul or any PCC member today.
READERS ROTA – It would be good to re-start our regular readers rota for Sunday Mass. Perhaps that is another area of Church life you might like to consider? See Fr Paul or any existing reader.
HOLY TRINITY SCHOOL As parish priest, I want to pay a special tribute to all the Staff of Holy Trinity School. Our school remained open all over Easter as a safe place for the children of frontline and key workers. On July 15th we have a simple leavers service in school. We wish our all our leavers well for the future. God be with them. Please continue to hold our school and its staff and pupils in your prayers each day.
Can you help?
In various places around our Church building we have weed growth on external walls, these need to be first treated with a weed killer via a spray, then when dead, removed. This will entail the use of a ladder in some places, so Health and Safety is paramount. Also, there are a few rusty air grills around the building which according to the latest architect’s inspection need to be either cleaned down and re-painted or replaced. Is this the kind of small task you might assist with? Please speak with Fr Paul for details.
Our financial situation at HTR.
Over the time of the lockdown, now almost four months we have been managing to pay our bills and cover our utility costs, but this has placed a great strain on how we keep going as a Church. Our parish share to the Diocese which covers the stipend of the priest, along with the Rectory and pension costs as well as Diocesan administration is well over £60,000 per year. Our insurance costs on the building alone are £3,500 per year. Heat, light and water and cleaning and garden grass cutting cost us over £6,000 per annum.
As your priest, I want to record a very real thank you to all those people who continue to support our Parish Church with a weekly/monthly offering. The PCC also extend thanks to all those new people who have signed up as regular givers by BACS payment or Direct Debit. If you wish to set up a Direct Debit for your giving and help our church here is our Church Bank details: Nat West Bank: Sort code 60-17-17 Account: 82912408. Thank you!
Things that have changed since you were last in Church!
There will be no public singing, as this is still a sure way of transmitting the virus through droplets. We are however allowed to have a single cantor to sing from an area away from the congregation.
We will not share the Peace with hugs or handshakes. We will simply look at each other as we say Peace be with you. No physical contact is the safest way to avoid catching the virus.
No kneeling at the altar rail. Communion will be administered in single file by standing before the priest, with social distancing between other communicants as they approach the priest.
Communion only given in one kind! No wine from the chalice. During the Prayer of Consecration, the ciborium containing the hosts will be closed with its lid in place to reduce droplets. The priest will be replacing the normal Lavabo (washing hands) with the use of hand sanitiser.
Communion will be given only by the priest using silver tongs on to the palms of the hand, not the tongue. The priest will not say the words “The Body of Christ” to every communicant, but to all before distribution, thus keeping any possibility of contact or droplets to a minimum. The priest will be wearing a mask at the time of communion for your safety and his.
There will be no use of Hymn books or Mass books, only a single sheet to be taken away by the individual worshipper after Mass. Please, do not leave them in Church after you have touched them.
As you leave, keep a social distance from your friends.
No Sunday School until at least September.
No collection to be taken, but collection plates will be available in various parts of the Church for you offering.
Seating arrangements will be clearly marked on pews to allow for safe social distancing. However, if you come as one family or members of one household, you may sit together, but keep a distance from non-family members, ideally in a different pew.
Our hope is that initially there will be one midweek Mass on Wednesday at 6:00pm thus allowing a 72-hour period following Sunday worship.
Fr Paul will continue to say the daily office at 9:00am and 5:00pm Tuesday – Friday and 5:00pm on Saturday. People are free to join him but without books. This will be a reflective listening experience of prayer and reflection.