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Good morning and welcome to COVID Communiqué 5. We have three items this week. The first is information on the ongoing closure of diocesan churches — in particular, that all outdoor church spaces must remain closed. You can read the reasons for that here: https://bit.ly/3hclPt6

There’s also a piece to help you start thinking about when employees can come back to work — you can read it here: https://bit.ly/2MEYa6y

Finally, Bishop Shane has written this note on the Metropolitan’s letter on a summer sabbath rest (released last week):

Remarks by Bishop Shane concerning the Metropolitan’s letter of June 1

In a letter titled “A Summer Sabbath Rest” Archbishop Anne Germond expressed the Ontario House of Bishop’s common view that regardless of where the Government of Ontario is with its reopening plan, our churches will not be reopening for in-person worship until at least September. This decision was made in consultation with public health experts as well as our diocesan executive officers and chancellors, with the wellbeing and safety of all our parishioners and the communities we serve uppermost in our hearts and minds.

The framing of this decision as a call for a “sacred sabbath rest” has, understandably, caused some confusion, because it is clear that ministries of pastoral care, online worship, and our critical food security and other essential community ministries will continue throughout the summer months.

The changes announced by the Ontario Government on June 8 concerning religious services will not fundamentally change the decision to not reopen our churches for in-person worship until at least September. Next week’s COVID Communiqué will address this further.

My understanding of the decision to set our own timetable for reopening is twofold: first of all, it gives us time to develop, refine, and implement a science-informed, safe, staged plan; secondly, it means that we do not have to substantially change our current pattern in the middle of the summer, when many are attempting to have some kind of vacation. However, we all need to be aware that there will likely be a need to do some implementation work during the summer months.
Our plan is being drafted by the Reverend Michael Garner, our COVID-19 public health advisor, and Carol Sinclair, our director of Human Resources, in consultation with Dr. Bill Gardner, our COVID-19 research advisor, and with due reference to public health authorities in Ontario and Quebec. A Zoom meeting for all active clergy on June 18 will provide a general briefing on COVID-19 as well as an overview of the plan, and a similar meeting for lay leaders will soon be announced.

It is very important to realize that this is not a one-directional plan to reopen: it will describe different stages of responding to the pandemic as the disease plays out and as either efficacious treatment or a vaccine is developed. We may be required to move back and forth between stages if there is a second wave or other unexpected developments.

We need to become expert at ministering in every stage, whether we are in a strict shut down, or a limited or partial reopening. Our plan will spell out what is possible in each stage, and the creativity of our talented clergy and laity will give shape to how ministry will happen in each stage in every parish or ministry of our diocesan church.
While we will not cease to follow Jesus and to serve whole-heartedly at any stage, it is extremely important to enable one another to take time for rest and refreshment—whether that is a summer or autumn vacation, or days off each week.
Please be careful with your time and energy during these pandemic days. Parish clergy have been diligently adjusting and innovating in order to live out their ordination vows, without the benefit of the familiar rhythms that anchor us. Some of our duties have disproportionally expanded, and the lines between working and not working have likely blurred for all of us.
The advice I have given to our clergy I offer to everyone: pace yourself and keep it simple. Measure what you feel you need to be doing now against what you would normally be doing, and if it seems like you are stressed and spread thin, then aggressively assess what you need to scale back. Stay within your natural gifts and strengths.

As you contemplate vacation time, help one another to take time off: work with other parishes to ensure that ministry is being covered. Collaborate to offer online worship during the summer months, or simply invite your people to plug into a Sunday liturgy being streamed or offered by another parish if that allows your lay and clergy leaders to take time off.

Take good care of yourselves and one another. If you don’t stay healthy in mind and body in the midst of a crisis, you will be unable to help others: there is nothing selfish about self-care.

+Shane
[These remarks are also available on the website, under “Churches and church grounds must remain closed for now.”]

As ever, If you have any questions, or there’s a development we’ve missed, or you find something that’s out of date or wrong, please let us know by sending a note to Heidi Pizzuto, Executive Assistant to the Bishop, and she will direct your note to the right person. There are so many questions around COVID-19, we don’t want to add any more or miss any answers.

The Communiqué is produced by the senior staff of the diocese:

Shane Parker, Bishop of Ottawa
Sanjay Grover, Director of Financial Ministry
Peter John Hobbs, Director of Community Ministries
Jane Scanlon, Director of Stewardship Development
Carol Sinclair, Director of Human Resources