On Sunday 5 July at 10.30 the Bishop will preside at the Eucharist to mark the re-opening of the Cathedral for public worship.
This is a real day of celebration for all of us! If you have access to the internet, the whole service will be livestreamed. We hope too that our bells will be rung for the first time in many months.
From Tuesday 7 July there will be a daily Eucharist at 12.30 (except Mondays when we remain closed) and a Sunday Eucharist at 10.30.
The Cathedral remains open for individual prayer from Tuesday to Saturday between 11.00am and 2.00pm, and every Sunday following the Cathedral Eucharist at 10.30am until 1.00pm.
Guidelines
As you would expect, we have received very detailed guidance from the Church of England on opening for worship. This draws on the complex legal stipulations set by the Government. We are finding that the regulations are changing from day to day. This can make planning quite difficult as we must respond swiftly to new requirements.
All of this aims at keeping everyone as safe as possible during worship.
Please read this guidance before you come to a service, and note particularly, the requirement to register your personal information as you come into the Cathedral for worship.
As you come into the Cathedral to attend worship, we are required to gather personal information about you—your name and some contact details. This is to ensure that we can comply with the Government Track and Trace programme. Your details will be stored safely on paper and destroyed after 21 days.
The number of worshippers in the Cathedral will initially be strictly limited. This unfortunately means that we cannot guarantee that you will be admitted to a specific service—when the limit has been reached, we are absolutely unable to allow anyone else in. Please be understanding if this happens to you. In due course, we hope to bring in a ticketing system to allow booking for services.
You will, as usual, come into the Cathedral through the Grand Entrance, but you will leave through the Parker Transept. This one-way flow in public buildings is being encouraged by the Government.
You will find hand sanitiser at the entrance to the Cathedral and at strategic points around the building. Please use this when you arrive and when you leave the Cathedral.
As usual, we will produce service sheets for Sunday worship (which will still be sent out to you by post or email, like this newsletter). Service sheets will now be put out on the pews, not handed to you as you arrive. You are particularly requested to take the service sheets away with you, as this is safer for Cathedral staff.
We will not be serving refreshments after the Cathedral Eucharist. We will be asking members of the congregation to leave the Cathedral immediately after worship, and not to wait to greet friends in the building.
We will not take a collection during the service. You are asked to put your gift into a collection box before or after the service, or to give through your mobile phone or your bank.
During Coronavirus we will follow the pre-Reformation practice in the Cathedral of not sharing the chalice. The President of the Eucharist alone receives from the cup, as a representative of all the faithful.
We are hoping to stream all our services through Facebook and YouTube, but this will take some time — and a lot of experimenting.
Night Prayer led by the Cathedral clergy will continue to be streamed on Facebook at 9pm from Monday to Saturday.
Do please bear in mind your own personal circumstances before deciding to visit the Cathedral. We are taking all the precautions we can, and being as thorough as possible, but you should not come into the Cathedral until it is safe for you, according to your specific health needs. Should you have any of the symptoms of Coronavirus please stay home and follow the Government’s advice.