Booking for Weekend Masses under Level 4 Restrictions
Dear parishioner
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.
The team have produced what we are calling a ‘slimmed down’ version of the lockdown liturgy for this weekend (2nd and 3rd January) – you can access it by clicking on this link.
When I emailed on Monday 28th December, I had set out how we planned to move forward now that the number of people at Mass is restricted to 20.
Since Monday we have discovered that there are additional regulations for Level 4 Covid-19 restriction areas that impact attendance at Mass. You will be aware that people in a Level 4 area are not permitted to travel outside that area. The Scottish Government documentation confirms that this applies to travel to a place of worship. So, while at Level 3 it was permissible to travel to your normal place of worship if it was in another Council area, now that we are all in Level 4, it is not permissible. For clarity, this means that anybody living outside the City of Edinburgh Council area, cannot come to Mass in a parish within the City of Edinburgh, even if that is their normal place of worship. As a consequence, we will not be able to grant any booking requests from addresses outwith the Edinburgh area (postcodes EH1-EH17 and EH28-EH30).
It is important to reiterate that the obligation to attend Mass remains suspended.
I know that people outside the City of Edinburgh do regularly worship with us and that this will impact upon them. I am sorry that we are in this situation, but it is vitally important that we comply with the restrictions the Scottish Government have set out. I hope and pray that we will soon come to a time when our full congregations can gather together to celebrate Mass.
If you have any questions, please email and I will arrange for one of the team to get back to you.
With my prayers.
Fr Alex