From the Bishop of Huntingdon to all clergy (licensed and PTO), LLMs, churchwardens, PCC secretaries and members of the Bishop’s Council and Diocesan Synod (with apologies for cross-posting to those who are more than one distribution list).
Sent on 10 June 2020
Attachments: This email contained the following attachments. Item (1) was provided by Bishop Dagmar, Item (2) - (5) have been linked to the Church of England Covid page where the original documents are uploaded.
- Opening Church Guidance Summary - 10 June 2020 - Produced by the Bishop of Huntingdon
- COVID-19 Advice for Conducting Funerals
- COVID-19 Advice on Individual Prayer by Members of the public in Church Buildings
- Keeping church buildings clean
- Risk Assessment for Opening Church Buildings to the Public: individual prayer
Dear Colleagues
You will have picked up in the news that from 15th June we will be able to open churches for individual and private prayer and for small funerals.
Please find attached a Guidance Summary from me and latest documents pertaining to this which have been released yesterday.
While many of us will rejoice that we can begin to use our church buildings again in this way, it is also an unsettling time demanding decisions and (risk) assessments that will need to be made. Not everything is crystal clear yet, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions. Together we will work it out, and the more we collaborate, the better for all of us.
I realize some of you have been having a hard time with pressure to open church buildings, not least when this was against your own judgement. Thank you so much for helping to hold the line. And for the great community support and creative worship with which you have reached out to so many.
If you’re feeling a bit under the weather and stressed, The Sheldon Hub is a great source of support as is St Luke’s Virtual Wellbeing Programme.
Please don’t forget to take time off, even if travel is still restricted!
May God bless us all with kindness and wisdom.
+Dagmar
The Rt Revd Dr Dagmar Winter
The Bishop of Huntingdon
e: bishop.huntingdon@elydiocese.org
Twitter: @dagmarkirk