Church Activities and Coronavirus

Leave a comment

St Catherine's ChurchIn light of the latest guidance from the government and the Church of England, our usual pattern of Sunday services and other midweek gatherings must be put on hold with immediate effect.  This affects all areas of our church life. 

Instead we are exploring how to be a different kind of church, and how to both keep in contact and provide practical help.

As we explore what the ‘new normal’ means we are opening a few activities slowly and carefully.  At this time :-

  • We have also started to hold a simple service in our church building on Sundays at 10am.  We are experimenting with style and contents as we discover who is willing and able to join us.  Due to corona-virus there are many restrictions, but you are most welcome to attend.  Click here for the original announcement.

We encourage you to :-

  • Join our live-streamed video services via our Facebook page .  We have a Sunday morning service video as well as a weekday live streamed ‘At Home’ Morning Prayer  service.  All start at 10am.  Please download a Morning Prayer service booklet from here.
  • Keep in contact via email, social media or telephone with each other.  If you are not already in one of our ‘Virtual Groups’ and wish to be included, please email us.

 

Please refer to this page for Practical Help if you are ill or isolated.

Please refer to this page for Spiritual Help during this time.

Church Activities

While the announcement of the closure of our various activities has been made at different times, all our other meetings must now be considered closed until further notice.  For the avoidance of doubt, this includes , but is not limited to, the following :-

      • Mid-Week Services in church
      • Tuesday Get Together
      • Friday Friends
      • York House communion
      • Calcot Cuppa
      • Mothers Union
      • Youth Group
      • Tots Praise
      • Cornwell 0-5s Play Group

At this time it is not known which activities will re-start at what time.  Please check back on this web site or our Facebook page for further details.

Other Hall Users

At this time, St Catherine’s Pre-School are the only users of the church hall.  They are providing a reduced service in a restricted area of the building.

As lock-down slowly eases, we are exploring when and how other church center users may resume their activities.   We will contact the people booking the hall to discuss the additional requirements that government guidance puts upon us and the practicality of whether their groups may restart.

At this time we do not know when any church center users will restart their groups.  Please check back on this web site or our Facebook page for further details.

Last updated 13th August  10:30 am.
Originally published 16th March 9:00 am.

Café Siena – reopening

1 Comment

After careful consideration, we are delighted to announce that we are going to reopen the cafe from this week (August 6th).

Initially a soft opening on Thursdays and Fridays 10.30-13.30 with a reduced menu (hot and cold drinks, cakes, soups, and sandwiches).

Extra safety measures will be in place to help safeguard the well-being of all.  Please wear face coverings to come and go!   Entrance by the car park (north) door only!   Limited seating, including tables and chairs outdoors weather permitting.

Sunday Worship – 2nd August

1 Comment

You can join us for worship in two ways this Sunday, 2nd August:

10.00 am On-line Worship service, with worship songs and lively preaching

10.00 am Communion at St Catherine’s, This will be a simple spoken service, with no singing. In keeping with regulations, chairs will be set at socially distanced spaces, and only wafers will be offered.  If you would like to attend, please wear a face mask. (There will be no service leaflets – but words will be on the screens, in keeping with guidelines.)  The limit for attending will be 24 people.

St Catherine’s is complying with COVID-19 guidance.  Windows will be open, seats cleaned before and afterwards, the accessible toilet will be available.  You will need to be signed-in for track and trace purposes.  Government advice is that 70+ be encouraged to stay at home – but it is the individual decision as to whether you attend.  All are welcome!

This doesn’t set a precedent, and it doesn’t mean that regular communion services will now be reintroduced, as we need to be wise and there are lots of factors to take into account – and guidance keeps changing!

However, for now, we look forward to seeing you in person, or engaging with you online this Sunday!

On-line resources during Coronavirus

2 Comments

We are aware that many seek spiritual nourishment during this time of Coronavirus when we are unable to attend Church services together.  This may be especially important for those self isolating.

We are providing a range of resources, including live-streamed services, videos and reflections as well as study materials & fun activities.

We continue to meet together on-line in a variety of ways, primarily through Facebook and Zoom.

Immediately below are our most recent videos. Please scroll to the bottom for more resources.

Morning Prayer – Friday 14th August

 

Morning Prayer – Thursday 13th August

 

Morning Prayer – Wednesday 12th August

 

Morning Prayer – Tuesday 11th August

 

Morning Prayer – Monday 10th August

 

Sunday Service – Sunday 9th August

 

Saturday Funday – Saturday 8th August

 

Videos

All our Morning Prayer & Sunday Service videos can be found here

Our videos for the young or young at heart can be found here

All our Afternoon Reflection videos can be found here

Our Thy Kingdom Come Evening Prayer videos can be found here

All our Bible Reading videos can be found here

All our Daily Office videos can be found here

All our Soul Music videos can be found here

Other Resources

All our downloadable resources, including our ‘At Home’ service booklet, can be found here

In addition to videos, further study material has been emailed or delivered. If you want this and haven’t already received it, please contact us at info@stcatherines-tilehurst.org.uk .  If you have a friend who’d like this, but does not have access to the Internet, please contact us.

A lot of announcements and links to additional material can be found on our Facebook page.

If you wish to join us for our Zoom Coffee meetings, please email us at info@stcatherines-tilehurst.org.uk

Last updated Friday 24th July 11:00 am.

Originally published Monday 16th March 9:00 am