There has been a long awaited revision of the restrictions on gathering numbers... but we need to plan carefully and stay safely on the path.

On Monday 25 May the Prime Minster advised that Cabinet, in consultation with the Director General of Health, was revising the number of people who could gather in one place to be the full maximum allowed under Level 2 i.e. 100 people. This will come into effect at Midday on Friday 29 May. Level 2 settings will be reviewed again by Cabinet on 8 June with further review of the current Alert Level on 22 June.

What will this mean for Faith Communities?

We have made the decision to allow Faith Communities to gradually resume services and other gatherings  on the completion of an Action Plan that is signed off by the Bishop. To date a number of Parishes and Churches have been working on these plans and have received approval to move ahead.

Taking this approach has allowed Faith Communities to look at their own circumstances and see what will or won't work for them, as well as receive feedback on their plans. Some have made the decision not to consider re-opening right away or delay this until Level 1. Others recognise that many may not be comfortable returning to previous activities for a while, and will continue to offer a variety of ways of caring for people and keeping them connected. 

In the Action Plans that have been completed we have been encouraging faith communities to look carefully at their facilities and decide how many people can be safely accommodated following the required public health measures. This means that for many, they will not be able to cater for 100 people safely at a service (they have decided on the maximum number of people they can accommodate).

We are asking Faith Communities to keep in touch with each other around how they will recommence things safely. No-one wants to be in the position of turning people away, so there may be different arrangements in place to ensure this doesn't happen.

We are noting on the Worship On-line and Live web page who is planning to reopen, and what other ways of worshiping are continuing. If you haven't heard what is happening in your area, please contact them via our Churches Directory page to find out what is happening. 

We are updating some of our other resources and we'll let you know when they are ready to go.

Please do contact the Diocesan Office if you have any questions.