A COMMUNITY THAT CARES
The cathedral and the pandemic
Content provided by St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral | catedral-anglicana.org.br | contato@catedral-anglicana.org.br
T
his pandemic of Covid-19 has certainly had a devastating effect on our lives. Not only have our private lives been affected, but just about everything has felt its impact: hospitals, businesses, schools and even churches. In April last year the churches were closed to the public and no in-person services were permitted. The Cathedral rapidly adapted itself to offering her spiritual messages to her followers using the internet, even though it was not a simple task for the minister to learn to preach to an empty church. In July, the churches were allowed to hold face-to-face services, but with a lot of restrictions. This did not help the Englishspeaking congregation at the Cathedral as Bishop Roger, because of his age, was considered to be part of the risk group and not allowed to celebrate in the Cathedral. However, to ensure that his congregation was not left without any spiritual assistance, he
has sent out a weekly “mini-service” via email to his congregation which they may read whenever they wish and he conducts a service via Zoom every Sunday morning at 10 o’clock, which offers the congregation the opportunity to actively participate in a service. These Zoom services are attended by people from all over Brazil and even overseas. On the other hand, the Portuguesespeaking congregation was able to return and worship in the Cathedral. However, people from the risk group were not allowed to participate, the number of people participating could not exceed 30% of the capacity of the temple (240 people in the case of the Cathedral), people had to wear masks, maintain social distancing, use hand sanitizer and have their temperature checked by totems before entering the Church. In order to guarantee that the limit of occupancy is respected, it is necessary that
Some of the participants in a Zoom service | Alguns participantes em um culto pelo Zoom
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the people who want to attend a service first register with the Church Office. Rev. Aldo is holding his three services on Sundays (8:00, 12:00 and 18:30) and one on Wednesdays (19:45). He is also offering prayers from Mondays to Saturdays at 12:00 and 18:00 which can be followed on Facebook or Instagram. ◼
Part of the liturgy projected in the Zoom service | Parte da liturgia projetada em um culto pelo Zoom
British Society São Paulo | Fundação Britanica de Beneficência | Spotlight N° 130
