The Parish Pastoral Council, in consultation with Fr Comer, and in line with Diocesan guidelines, has decided to re-open Eadestown church and begin masses from the weekend of the 4th / 5th of July 2020. Kilteel church requires some internal and external works before it can re-open and the target date for Kilteel is now 12th July 2020. We ask you to check back here on the website for updates.
To try and accommodate as many as possible, there will initially be an additional mass on Saturday evening in Eadestown. Parishioners are welcome on either Saturday or Sunday, and perhaps families and friends may share their plans with each other to informally try and balance the numbers on each day.
The Archbishop has advised all priests over 70 (which would include Fr Comer) that they are in a high-risk group and so should take extra precautions when celebrating mass to avoid unnecessary contact or anything that would put themselves at additional risk. Therefore we may be making some small changes in this regard during mass, which may include more lay involvement and other changes as appropriate.
There will be ushers attending each mass to assist with social distancing, and with seating the congregation and supervising entrance, exit and at communion time. The capacity of each church including congregation and those helping are as follows:
| CHURCH | CAPACITY |
| Eadestown | 50 |
| Kilteel | 20 |
We would ask everyone to please co-operate with the ushers and to understand that once the church capacity is reached nobody else can be admitted. There are external speakers to allow for mass to be heard outside the church, and communion will also be distributed outside.
Mass times will be:
| CHURCH | OPENING DATE | DAY/TIME |
| Eadestown | 4th July 2020 | Sat 7:30pm |
| Eadestown | 5th July 2020 | Sun 11:30am |
| Kilteel | 11th July 2020 (target*) | Sun 10:00am |
This is only a first step in our return to a new normal, and things will look quite different for a while.
Weekday masses will not resume yet, as new arrangements need to be put in place for cleaning and sanitising the church during the week, and arrangements need to be made to ensure social distancing. Our hope is to resume weekday masses when safe for both parishioners and Fr Comer, so please check the website regularly.
In addition, for those unable or who may not wish to attend, we will continue to Live Stream the 11:30am Sunday mass each week – details will be available here on the Parish website. The Catholic Bishops have extended the dispensation from attending mass on Sundays and Holy days for the time being.
Please bear with us and understand that new arrangements for seating, collections, receiving communion and so on, are being put in place for everyone’s safety and well-being. Also, we may change some of the procedures in the first few weeks as we learn what is safe and effective.
One-way systems will be in operation in both churches – entry will be via the main door only, and exit via the back/side door only. Please expect some queuing before mass and arrive a few minutes early. Ushers will be on hand to seat everyone as quickly as possible, and to assist in an orderly exit at the end of mass.
There will be collection boxes at the entrance and exit doors as there will be no collection bags/baskets passed around during mass.
Hand sanitisers will be in place at all entry / exit points. And the churches will be cleaned before and after each mass.
