“Welcome Back” – St Clare’s & Holy Cross churches will re-open for public worship from tomorrow 29^th June. ‘A parish is at its best when it joins together as a community to worship’.  The capacity of our churches with social distancing is Holy Cross – 60 people and St Clare’s Church – 120 people.  Unfortunately, we are still restricted to 50 people only for the moment but hopefully we will get to bigger numbers soon. It is understandable that people may still be nervous of Covid and will be reluctant to return to church for the moment in case there are big crowds.  To alleviate this a little there will be an extra weekend Mass in Holy Cross Church on Friday evenings at 7.30pm.  The Saturday morning Mass at 10am in St Clare’s will also be a weekend Mass.  We would ask everyone to be mindful of their own health first and remind them that attending any Mass during the week or watching on webcam is acceptable as your Sunday Mass.

We are extremely lucky in our parish to have so many volunteers to help us implement the government guidelines.  A big thank you to all those who attended the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday nights this week.  We now have volunteers trained to welcome people to all our Masses and direct them to the designated social distancing seats.  We know some people have been sitting in the same seats at Mass for years but unfortunately this will not be possible for the moment.  The stewards will fill the seats from the front of the church with designated single seat and household places.  There is no need to be anxious as the stewards will be there to show you where to go.  Unfortunately, once all the seats are full no one else will be allowed to enter the church.  This is regrettable so please don’t take offence.  Everyone is doing their best to follow the government guidelines regarding social distancing.

At communion people will be asked to remain in their seats to receive the Eucharist and the Ministers will come to you.  People can only receive Communion on their hand.  The ministers of the Eucharist will wear masks and sanitise their hands carefully.

Other guidelines that need to be followed for everyone’s safety are:

• If you have any flu-like symptoms please remain at home and join us via webcam.
• The whole church will be sanitised by our volunteers and sacristan after each Mass.
• People will be asked to sanitise their hands on entering and leaving the church.
• Please stay in your seat for the duration of the Mass. (Parents are asked to please ensure your child remains with them)
• Please do not shake hands with people at the sign of peace.
• To allow for time to sanitise the church before the next Mass people will be asked to leave the church immediately after each ceremony.
• If you would like to volunteer in any of the ministries please contact the parish office and training will be arranged.

We understand this all appears to be very regimented but we have to follow the government guidelines in order to ensure that everyone is kept safe and we finally rid our community of this pandemic.  We look forward to seeing you all again.  ‘Welcome, Respect and Safety’.