Parish of Our Lady & Saint David, Cwmbran

COVID-19 Restrictions: Parish Update

Over the weekend, the Welsh Government has moved the COVID-19 alert level down to 0. This change will have implications for our parish community. To allow the Risk Assessment to be carried out in both churches, these changes will take effect in the parish from Monday, 9^th August 2021. The changes to the regulations include:

• The removal of legal restrictions on the number of people who can meet indoors. These include the removal of the social distancing and one way regulations in our churches.
• There is no need to sanitise the buildings with the fogger in between uses.
• No stewards are now required to show people to their designated seats.
• Face marks continue to be a legal requirement in Wales, unless you are exempt and wear the lanyard.
• Track and Trace remains a legal requirement upon entry. Please ensure that a telephone number is provided on the form.
• Altar servers can resume their ministry. Please could altar servers speak with Fr. Daniel.

Whilst I am very much looking forward to seeing the easing of many of these restrictions for the celebration of Mass, we must nonetheless proceed with caution. As the Prime Minister said recently: “the pandemic is not over”. There is a collective responsibility among all of us to ensure the safety of all worshippers so that our churches continue to be a safe environment to worship Almighty God. If you have any of the Coronavirus symptoms, please follow the government guidelines, isolate immediately and contact the NHS for more information.

“Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs…” 

When we think of a prophet, we may naturally have a particular image in our mind, a particular caricature, of what a prophet may look like. This image may be the a biblical image, such as St. John the Baptist, for example, or the prophet voice of Isaiah. The image of a prophet which we may construct could take its influence from more modern times: Mother Theresa, for example, or the great St. John Paul II. 

The prophetic vocation is not only a reserved vocation for a small few, but something which all of us receive through the grace of Baptism. At our baptisms, we were anointed priest, prophet, and king, and so are given a special mandate to “go, make disciples of all the nations”. To be sent out, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, is the reason for our existence; it’s what enables discipleship to make sense. Just as Jesus sends out the Twelve, so are we sent out, also, to proclaim, to make Jesus known in the world. The Gospel invites us to do this with trust; trusting thatJesus will give us everything we need – and more – to turn this from a nice theory into reality.