Physical Mass

These have certainly been extraordinary times and many of us have felt the sorrow of not being able to come together to celebrate our Sunday Mass. The Council met at the AGM on Sunday and we discussed at length what has happened since COVID-19 came into our daily lives.

I hope that you experienced the efforts the Council went to, to ensure that we could celebrate our mass together albeit virtually. We worked hard to design a way to engage and be inclusive of our community, we learnt from our humble beginnings and built an approach that showcased our community and our ability to pray as One.

Since the restrictions have been lifted we then immediately turned our attention to prepare a safe return to Sunday Mass. I have to say this involved many discussions with many diverse views. In the end we followed strictly the rules laid out by the diocese in order to ensure the communities safeguarding and wellbeing. We are sure that it felt difficult to “buy” a ticket to come and worship, however it was necessary to ensure we did not exceed the physical distancing requirements. I know that some of you felt this was “too much” and we get it, it is strange, but we needed to do it to ensure we respected all of the obligations and also be able to track you if someone in our community became ill.

All of this being said we once again experienced the dynamic nature of the COVID-19 requirements. At the Council meeting we have decided to adapt to the next wave by removing the need to register for Sunday Mass. With the 1.5 meter physical distancing instruction we now have the ability to welcome more parishioners to our Sunday service. We will ensure we have ushers to help facilitate the wellbeing and safety of the community by helping you move to and from your seats.

Please review the new guidelines here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ATKFC5CYTo3LMogsvIAT1eFRAaN4VQuj/view?usp=sharing

The summer season is upon us, religious education classes are over and in a normal year many of you would return to homes to spend the holidays with your families abroad. This summer, we hope that you will come back to the physical service and celebrate our faith as One, the ESRCCB.

Links to other Online Masses

• Please find a link to daily services in Northern Ireland here. Some of these are being broadcasted online.
• Mass in Ireland with the Listowel Parish at St. Mary’s Church
• Redemptorist Publications Mass Online
• Mass Online.org
• Vatican Mass Online