As infections in the UK are rising, disturbingly, this is a good time to remind you of some of the things we ask you to do.
First of all, in this parish we ask you to wear a mask when you are in church, unless you are reading aloud or singing in a choir. We have re-introduced congregational singing, and learning to sing wearing a mask is not easy (though not impossible either), but we all need to continue to show consideration to others.
Secondly, we continue to urge you to receive Holy Communion on the hand. For the first few months after churches reopened in the summer of 2020, in most of the dioceses of this country, receiving Holy Communion on the tongue was forbidden. While that restriction has been lifted, we ask that if you insist on doing so you come to receive at the end of the queue to reduce the extent to which the minister giving you Communion has to sanitise his or her hands after doing so. If anyone tells you are being dis-respectful to the Lord by receiving on the hand, simply ignore them. Receiving on the hand has been allowed by the bishops in this country for many years now.
Fr Ashley