[Magdalen] Diocese decisions: "re-gathering"

[Ann Markle]

Looks like July for Western New York, unless things change.  At Trinity,
Lancaster, we haven't been doing anything in addition to the diocesan
Sunday worship, but I've now added a Wednesday Evening Prayer, and may do a
Sunday Morning Prayer/Coffee hour, too.  Who knew it would be this long?

Ann

The Rev. Ann Markle
Buffalo, NY
ann.markle at aya.yale.edu


On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 4:57 PM Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Our parish has adhered to the Bishop's guidelines, so we're still staying
> out of churches through the end of the month (Daily Offices on Zoom from
> homes; Masses from the rectory on FB live stream featuring the rector and
> his wife). A parish task force has been formed to help the rector decide
> how to implement any process for reopening.
>
> I noticed yesterday that one suburban parish is announcing Sunday service
> in their church on May 24, based on the governor's guidelines. There's a
> long email about it that conspicuously fails to mention anything about
> diocesan guidelines. I wonder if they'll be hearing from the Bishop on
> this.
>
> On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 3:48 PM cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear ones,
> >
> > By virtue of being on the Culpeper Region, I have become a member of
> > the Diocese of Virginia Elected and Appointed Leaders group. We have
> > been directed to a documents to read regarding various recommendations
> > for re-opening after a shut down, from the USA Centers for Disease
> > Control (with a section devoted to communities of faith), to the
> > Wisconsin Council of Churches, to a joint document created by the
> > Bishops of the Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia Episcopal
> > Dioceses, to Virginia Governor Northam's phase one business sector
> > guidelines.
> >
> > The national Episcopal church, in the person of Presiding Bishop
> > Michael Curry, has emphasized that we adhere to sensible guidelines in
> > the name of love for each other. I have found his sermons and guidance
> > to be joyful and heart-warming.
> >
> > Virginia is to move to phase one re-opening tomorrow, except for
> > northern Virginia where the infection rate is not diminishing. As the
> > register of our medium-sized country church (we are in the top 3 of
> > the 10 churches in our region, which range in attendance from about 10
> > people on Sundays to a high of over 200 people), we have vestry
> > members who want to start attending church again so they can partake
> > of the eucharistic feast.
> >
> > We have found in the Diocese of Virginia that virtual worship services
> > (Facebook, Youtube, Zoom) are reaching a far larger group of people
> > than physically attend church. The virtual worship services for our
> > church, Trinity in little Washington, VA has attendees from FL, NC, CO
> > - most of whom are one-time members who have moved away, but some of
> > whom are unknown. Attendance has gone from roughly 80 people per
> > Sunday to many more than that. The diocese is reluctant to give up
> > this wonderful evangelical moment for in-person church services!
> >
> > Bishop Susan Goff warns us that our "re-gathering" together will be
> > messy, must be deliberate and thoughtful, and will be approved
> > church-by-church after churches provide their plans (under guidance by
> > the diocese). The diocese is in the
> > figuring-out-the-guidelines-for-phased-plans stage, which should take
> > some time given the widely varied nature of our churches (from
> > historic mountain missions to even older urban congregations).
> >
> > What are your churches doing? How do you envision moving forward?
> >
> > Pondering, learning, praying,
> >
> > Cady
> > typing this in 'suburban' Boston, VA where the deer outnumber the people
> >
>
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>