For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By eltonioni
#1796069
johnm wrote:Not really. Churches closed because they were places of assembly and we already knew that churches elsewhere had been infection sources. The clergy in many cases, including ours, quickly adapted to live streaming a range of services and other activities and trying to ensure that the vulnerable were supported.


Yes really.

Try being a little older, not drenched in tech, being without family on the doorstep, having the church as your primary means of social interaction and support, being more worried that you might be next to be alone in hospital and taken away buried without family or friends at your graveside.

I really am quite cross how various churches and clergy have behaved to loyal congregants and society at large through this farago. Please don't make excuses that people can tune in to a sermon on Youtube - it's beyond Carp.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1796074
Local clergy are not to blame for this it's HMG and Church Authorities who made the decisions. Closing churches was wise as we saw a wide range of church based infections particularly across the other side of the Atlantic.

In parishes and benefices a good deal of work was done to look after the vulnerable as best they could with telephone playing a key role and there are very few who can't operate a simple telephone who might be able to attend a church.

That said we had bigger congregations on line than we get in the building!

The churches also continued to support food banks with collection points in porches etc.

We are reopening after a risk assessment and with precautions but we already know that a number of very elderly parishioners and those undergoing chemo will choose to stay away and continue to shield.
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By eltonioni
#1796077
Empty words John. Tell it to my 86yo mother-in-law who's not heard from her priest in months.

She's not alone. Except that she is.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1796080
eltonioni wrote:Empty words John. Tell it to my 86yo mother-in-law who's not heard from her priest in months.

She's not alone. Except that she is.


Sad but unusual in my experience, still she has you....

Have you tried ringing him??
By Bill McCarthy
#1796082
Gone are the days round here where the minister would visit, and create merry hell if he did not see you in church. They still seem to rule with a rod of iron in the outposts of the Hebrides. To my mind, they are only interested in attendant numbers in the congregation - that’s why the majority of churches have closed in the far north. The church supporting the vulnerable - oh, if the clock could be turned back to ask the people huddled round the kirk at Croick.
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1796089
eltonioni wrote:Empty words John. Tell it to my 86yo mother-in-law who's not heard from her priest in months.

She's not alone. Except that she is.

I can't speak for your mother-in-law's church.
Our church building was closed by law, not by choice.

Our minister spent the first few weeks of lockdown ringing everyone in the church. Each church member has a designated elder and also pastoral care plan of some sort, which varies per individual ( could be nothing if not wanted, being part of a discussion group ( many of which moved to zoom) or a pastoral contact, often a church friend.
We then put in a pastoral care strategy for a small number of the more isolated individuals.

We do have a fair number of people who turn up, but aren't members. We also don't formally have records of people's phone numbers. Those who sign up for emails, great, but for those who don't, it has been a struggle to keep in contact with.

We can only do our best.
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