Following the lifting of restrictions by the Government this week, the Bishop’s Conference has published guidelines to reassure those of you who are still nervous about returning to church. The statement from the Conference states that “it is in our continuing judgement, therefore that it is not possible at the present time for all of the faithful to attend Mass on a Sunday thus fulfilling their duty to God.” Their wish is for Sunday Obligation to return by the First Sunday in Advent 2021. We will still be keeping the Mass booking system but with increased capacity and would ask that y continue to book your weekend masses in this way for the time being, online or via the Parish Office . Communion will continue to be under one kind, the physical sign of peace will remain suspended and the holy water stoups will still be empty. We ask that you continue to wear face masks when you are in the church. If you do not wish anyone to sit near you then please take one of the “leave a space” cards and put it next to you. There are no longer any restrictions on numbers for Baptisms, Funerals and Weddings. We will look to resume singing in September once we have had a chance to see how things go. We will also then implement the change of masses that we suggested with the Saturday 6pm & Sunday 8.30am Masses being at SSJFTM & the Sunday 10am & Noon being at St T. More of that to follow, but please think about how you can take part in the new arrangements. We will be needing our full complement of Singers, Eucharistic Ministers, Readers, Altar Servers, Greeters, Cash Counters, Fund Raisers…. Let’s hope & pray that we can all come together soon, but we need to be conscious of those who have lost confidence during lockdown and are understandably nervous about these next steps. We must still be vigilant and look out for others.