On How The Cathedral Is Welcoming Everyone Back To Mass.

 Did yo know that the parishioners at the Cathedral are not turned away from Mass on Sunday?   When they turn up at the door, they are not asked their telephone number,  test and trace is not longer used anywhere in this country, because the Vaccine has made it unnecessary, ad 80% of the country have been vaccinated and need not isolate.   But that does not mean that you can just walk into the Cathedral.  You are asked to give proof that you are vaccinated.    Vaccinations have also meant that the distancing rule has been abolished and people can now come within a comfortable distance of one another.   But if anyone at the Cathedral is uncomfortable at people being too close, they can put a card down on the seat beside them as if it was a place reserved for others.    Handwashing is of course carried out before and after Mass.   It seems to me a very good system meeting the advice of the Government and Health experts.    Now why do we not have this in my local parish?     But more important why were we not informed of it, and given the choice?   I could go to Mass on a Sunday very much affected with Covid but nobody even cares to ask.  What an appalling system!

But what would I hear if I put this model forward to our present committee, and we have never elected a committee in the parish for over 30 years.   "Well we do it our way, because people are scared".    So more than half the parish are excluded from Mass on a Sunday because some people, and I am sure they are old people, are scared.     The job of a committee is to remove these fears, not highlight them.   Give them assurances that they are safe, as I am sure they do much more effectively  at the Cathedral, by ensuring that the question "Have you been vaccinated?" is asked.

But moving on to the environment old people like myself have a very real problem in my parish.    So busy is the committee enforcing their option, that they have ignored the health of the parishioners.   Last Winter we are told was mild, but this winter will be more severe the experts are telling us, so let us take a look at the environment of my parish in winter during Covid.   We have two emergency exits opposite each other, which are open to let air into the Church during Mass.    Then we have eight windows , four on each side which are high up in the wall and these are also open during Mass.    So what happens on a cold winter's day?    Well if the church was heated over night the eight windows when opened would have taken all the heat away within minutes.   The parishioners are then faced with cold winds coming in through the open doors and making the inside of the Church even colder than the outside.     I stood there freezing many a time last winter, and on two occasions had to run out of the Church immediately to warm up in the cold air outside.  The whole environment is unhealthy for people to worship in, especially the old.

So how long will the majority of parishioners be excluded from Mass?    Some say it is going to last years.    Since the only criteria that the committee is examining is 'that some people are afraid' the state of affairs is appalling.   Eventually many people will have lost their faith.   God helpl us all.