Dear Friends,

September normally marks the return to all sorts of activities and organisations in parish life. People look forward to seeing friends they haven’t seen for a while and immersing themselves in those activities that are important to them.

For the second consecutive year, as these notes go to print, we can’t say with clarity what will unfold for all of our organisations and activities. We have begun a process of consulting with different organisations and groups to try to get a sense of where people are at with regards to resuming activities. Some are very keen to get going again, others are not so sure and, as always, in these challenging times, there are risk assessments and precautions to be set in place before anything can happen as people’s safety is our paramount concern.

In that regard, the Archbishop of Armagh, The Most Reverend John McDowell recently issued a statement on behalf of the Church of Ireland following the loosening of some restrictions around public worship. In this he stressed that the wearing of face coverings will still be legally required when entering and exiting the building. It is also strongly advised that they be worn whilst singing or moving around inside church premises.

He also emphasised that ‘the clear guidance from the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor remains that face coverings should continue to be worn, therefore parishioners are strongly encouraged to continue wearing face coverings for the time being when attending church services as the benefits, particularly in regard to the welfare of others, outweigh the risks. Congregational singing also considerably increases the risk of the spread of the virus so wearing a face covering is a necessary mitigation against that risk.’

The Archbishop also pointed out that by wearing a face covering we are showing our support and consideration for other members of the congregation, particularly the more vulnerable and those with underlying health concerns.

The full statement is available on our parish website, but it seems very clear that we would be rather reckless to disregard the best scientific advice available to us. It seems a very appropriate point also to pay tribute to our caretaker, Barbara, our Churchwardens, Greg and Catherine, and all our stewards, Glebewardens and the Select Vestry who have been doing all in their power to keep us all safe as we come to public worship. There is sanitising and cleaning in between services to make this possible as well as rigorous track and trace records and we appreciate everyone’s help and cooperation as we endeavour to continue to meet together in person.

The recent rise in infection numbers and the prevalence of the Delta variant mean that we must continue to be as careful and vigilant as possible.

Please do keep an eye on the parish website and Facebook page as we continue these discussions with our organisations and people will be in touch with members as soon as any activities are given the green light to resume.

While we may not have the clarity we would wish for in terms of the resumption of activities and organisations, there are things we do have definite plans for. The first is to welcome our new Curate, The Reverend Andy Hay, his wife Jackie and his daughters, Maddie and Emmy, to the parish in September. Andy’s ordination to the priesthood is scheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon, 5th September in Down Cathedral. We hope it will be live-streamed as attendance will no doubt be restricted.

Can we ask people to continue to hold Andy and his family in your prayers as they come to join us here, please? You will find an article in this magazine where Andy introduces himself to everyone. I know he is really excited at the prospect and he will bring great gifts to us as he joins our parish family.

We also hope to have another Alpha course online beginning on Wednesday 8th September. The course begins at 8pm each week for 10 weeks and each session lasts an hour. To take part please express your interest to the Rector or the parish office and more information will be appearing on the Facebook page shortly.

We also hope to continue with our weekly parish prayers online. It is a short time of Biblical meditation and quiet prayer over Zoom and we have been very encouraged to see God’s hand upon our parish as people have prayed together in this way over the past year. We usually pray for the church, for the world around us, and for people who have asked us to remember them. If you’d like to join us just send an email to zoomtostfinnian@btconnect.com and you will receive a weekly invitation.

We want to take this opportunity to wish all our younger parishioners well as they return to school and university in the coming weeks. Education has been severely disrupted over this past year and a half and we hope that things will stabilise to enable people to enter fully into all that their educational opportunities have to offer.

Very best wishes to everyone.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Pierce (Rector)

Telephone 028 90793822