Mass Times

The public celebration of Mass.

Each Tues, Wed and Thurs the church will be open for Personal Private Prayer 9.30am-12pm and Mass at 10am.

We have prepared for the reopening of the church. We have set up a Covid 19 Support Team to organise and to oversee the new arrangements.  

Through the WhatsApp group I made an appeal for volunteers to help and I’m grateful to those who have expressed their willingness to assist. 

Key to the reopening of the church for public masses is having stewards and cleaners – people who can help us all to stay safe when we come together as a faith community.

Sanitising the used areas of the church after each service will be very important, and with sufficient volunteers, that shouldn’t take more than 15-20 mins!

I would like to renew that appeal and in particular to ask for younger members of our parish to help out. Maybe your son or daughter would be available? Get in touch with me through a personal message or phone call and let me know.

Can I remind you that the Obligation to attend mass is still suspended and I would encourage our older parishioners and those who would feel more vulnerable, to come along to one of our weekday celebrations, as it may be less busy! 

We have a OneWay System in place, coming in the front door and exiting by the side doors. The doors will be left open. There are hand sanitizers at the entrance and the seats that are available for use, while we maintain social distancing, will be clearly marked. In each of the available seats households of course can sit together.Holy Communion will be distributed in the hand only, ministers and myself will wear face masks and sanitise our hands before and after the distribution. In order to facilitate our safety, we may have to distribute Communion at the end of mass, as you are leaving the church, however this will be determined at each mass.

The number of parishioners that our church can accommodate safely has been reduced somewhat because of the need for social distancing and to facilitate those who cannot enter, we have speakers installed outside the church and we have put in place arrangements for the distribution of Holy Communion for those outside.
This is “our new normal” – a different way of interacting with each other and a different way of coming together to
worship……but it will be good …… and we will keep each other safe………. and the measures we take will mitigate against the transmission of the virus, which is still very present within our community and will continue
to be for some time

For web streaming please use this link: http://www.downandconnor.org

The celebration of Confirmation, First Confession and First Holy Communion, is suspended until further notice.