A message from the Dean - 3 July
Dear Friends,
The 4th July besides being American Independence Day is the day when hairdressing can take place again and pubs, bars and restaurants can re-open. It would have been a bit odd if places of worship had been kept shut and so we too will gradually and safely begin our journey back to public worship and visitor access. As you can imagine, there’s much to be done. Government guidance and ecclesiastical interpretation of the guidance is voluminous: the wood has to be seen through the trees.
For the moment we will continue with our current arrangements. Worship will stay “online” until the 14th July (coinciding with the anniversary of the French Revolution!). Separate announcements on the website and noticeboards will set out the arrangements. Please stay tuned. The most significant development will be the return of our 10.30am Sunday Eucharist on Sunday 19th July. This will also be live streamed so that those who must shield or be very cautious about leaving their homes can have access. However, singing is still prohibited (apart from the use of a cantor standing a football-pitch away from all forms of human life). Organ music is permitted. Social distancing must be maintained; there will be a one-way route in and out of the building. We have new hand sanitisation machines and electronic collection plates to enable contactless giving. Numbers of attendees will also have to be limited and so we will be devising a way for everyone to give notice that they plan to be in church (more information next week). All this might seem cumbersome and intrusive. I agree. However, as much as God calls us to his service, he does not call us to sickness or premature death! For everyone’s benefit we must be properly cautious. Therefore, to enable public health bodies to track and trace sources and carriers of infection we will be asking all worshippers (apart from individuals attending the private prayer hours) to give notice of attendance, to sign in or, in the case of visitors, to obtain a ticket online, to print tickets at home, or download onto their phones, and present them at the door. This regime will stay in place until official restrictions on distancing and capacity are lifted. To help ease our very serious financial problems we will ask for £2 from each visitor (this approximates to what we used to receive from voluntary donations from visitors). As we cannot safely staff our welcome and donation desk, this temporary arrangement seems the best way of allowing safe admission and helping the Cathedral stay afloat financially. We will be limiting numbers in the Cathedral to 100 at any one time. By booking ahead people can choose times and dates to suit them. We have not changed our long-standing objective of being a non-charging Cathedral, but in the present emergency it is essential we control access, know who is in the building and do our utmost to provide a safe and hospitable welcome. Ticketing provides a simple solution. It is also essential that we encourage and provide electronic means for catching donations. All this will be in place. Many other Cathedrals have joined us in developing temporary ticketing arrangements this summer. The alternative would be to continue with very limited and restricted access – not a good policy at the height of the summer! Like all working compromises the policy needs goodwill and a spirit of give and take for it to work.
We will also be working hard to attract people to Lichfield. The tourism and visitor market has not been developed here as fully or systematically as it could and we are working with all our partners in the local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships to encourage people from across the region and the country to come and see this lovely and interesting place.
Sadly as we emerge from lockdown and the gradual tapering of support available from the Government’s job retention scheme, Chapter has had to reconsider our staff structure. Before the crisis we were facing a structural deficit. Our endowments have not, alas, been able to fund fully the purposes they were set up to support. Visitor numbers have had a catastrophic decline in the last two years and the costs of maintaining our liturgy and music, the Cathedral itself and the Close have not diminished. For sure we have had great success in obtaining public funds for some major projects, we’ve had all our capital projects fully funded from all sorts of extraordinary generosity; our arts programme and illuminations have brought a new public to the Cathedral and boosted income. But there’s a hole of more than £300,000. Compound that with many income streams drying up completely since March, with no guarantee of their return, and you see the scale of the problem. We are consulting with our staff on a programme of redundancies. This process will take time. It is being done scrupulously and in accordance with best practice. It’s a sad moment for all of us; naturally our discussions with our employees remain confidential. However, we are bidding for support from the Church Commissioners’ Cathedrals Sustainability Fund to secure and reconfigure three posts that will help develop volunteering and support our events and educational outreach work. Equally I’m glad to say our Architect, Robert Kilgour, is preparing the case for Tower and South Buttress repairs to take advantage of the Government’s “Shovel Ready” building projects fund announced this week.
We live in fast-moving times and you can be sure that Chapter and the management team are working flat-out to secure the Cathedral’s future. We are immensely grateful for the prayers, faithfulness and committed financial generosity of so many of you. Your loyalty and fantastic encouragement are an amazing gift. I simply ask you to keep your support coming in what are trying circumstances.
All through this crisis I’ve had a strong intuition that God is calling the Church to a new witness and a new faithfulness. Recently my good friend and colleague, David Primrose, the Director of Transforming Communities, challenged me and fellow members of the Bishop’s staff with a very searching set of reflections. Let me share them with you:
There is a brief window of opportunity for the church to proclaim a gospel which matches the social phenomenon of solidarity. Then when the high spring tide of social inclusivity ebbs away, we will be left uncomfortably identified with the starfish-like flotsam and jetsam abandoned above the shoreline of the ocean of humanity. The New Testament church embraced Jew and Gentile, male and female, free and slave. Jesus taught that he was to be found amongst the least, in prison, hungry and naked. Those at the heavenly banquet are gathered from the highways and byways.
Whilst there have been churches which have led the way in responding to local need, the extent of community engagement has often meant that the church has found itself a partner, and often a junior partner, in COVID-19 initiatives. This answers our prayer to be a church that partners with others seeking the common good working for justice as people of hope. People question society’s ability to sustain this level of social action. Are we ready to make compassion an enduring commitment? On the care of our common home, will we see the connection between caring for the poor and caring for creation? Will we join with others working for a green and fair economic recovery in anticipation of the on-going global crisis which is climate change?
As we reimagine church post-pandemic, will we prioritise resources which give tangible expression to a radical gospel message? As the church resets, will our new normal manifest our belief that God knows that we are all in this together? Will our everyday faith manifest our commitment to the radical inclusivity of God’s love for all of creation?
Like it or not, the times are a-changing, and in every twist and turn there is always a call from God to recognise him in the storm and the calm. Let’s not be frightened of the encounter.
With my love, prayers and blessing.
Adrian