Public Mass will resume at St Richard’s on 4th December, however the obligation to attend is still suspended.
The readings for Mass can be found every day on the ‘Universalis’ website.
Some churches in our diocese stream Mass online, you may be able to watch one of these during this time.
Having undertaken a risk assessment, please note that Mass will be celebrated only at the parish church of St Richard Buntingford. This is the largest of our three churches with greatest capacity.
All Masses will now be in Buntingford and Mass times are as follows:
Weekday Mass: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9.30am
Weekend Mass:
Saturday 6.00pm (priority will be given to Puckeridge parishioners)
Sunday 9.15am (priority will be given to Buntingford Parishioners)
Sunday 11.00am (priority will be given to Old Hall Green parishioners)
I would very much appreciate it if you let me know which of the Masses you would like to attend.
At our parish church in Buntingford, we have implemented the government requirements to minimise the risk of infection. Hand sanitising gel, physical distancing measures, stewarding, and other measures are now all in place.
The current safe capacity of St Richard’s church with the 2m-radius seating arrangement is 20 units/household and 6 singles. Therefore, you will need to let me know in advance if you intend to attend Mass. Kindly note that the doors will need to be closed 5 minutes before Mass and as soon as the church’s maximum safe capacity has been reached.
We are still living through the pandemic so while at Mass we will still be required to keep on with those practices we undertook before the lockdown. So, there will be no singing; there will be no sign of peace; Holy Communion will be distributed in the hand only; the holy water container will not be in use. None of those, of course, detracts from the centrality of our encounter with the Risen Christ in the Eucharist.
Please do not consider coming to church if you are self-isolating or shielding or have any of the symptoms of the coronavirus.
May we continue to pray for one another and hopefully, things will soon improve so that we can return to our customary practices. As always, our parish website provides weekly updates on the state of things.
Thank you for your understanding in this challenging and exceptional time.
As the Cardinal has said, we are not going back to normal, there are many changes we all have to accommodate to keep safe. Because there is still no obligation to attend a Sunday Mass, and the number of people the church can hold is greatly reduced, you might consider coming to Mass on a weekday if you are able, rather than on a Sunday.
The Bishops’ conference has published an update on COVID-19 and vaccination.