Yesterday, 9 June, Becky Clark, Director of Churches and Cathedrals and Secretary to the Church Buildings Council and Cathedrals Fabric Commission, circulated the following update on reopening of church buildings – which is posted here with her permission.
New risk assessment template
In response to the Government’s announcement that individual private prayer may resume in our churches and cathedrals from 15 June, we have published a revised risk assessment to help parishes and Chapters decide whether they are in a position to open safely and, if they are, to fulfil the requirement that we understand will be in Government guidance that a risk assessment be completed. It is very important to emphasise that churches may open from 15 June, not that they must or should.
The Bishop of London, as Chair of the Recovery Group, wrote to all Bishops earlier today, 9 June:
“As you are already aware, the Government announced at the weekend its intention that individual prayer will be permitted by law in places of worship in England from next Monday (15 June). This is very much a permissive change rather than a prescriptive one – it will still be a matter for local churches and cathedrals in liaison with their bishops or deans to decide to what extent they wish to take this up, if at all, in light of their own particular circumstances. We are awaiting new Government guidance and regulations on this area to be published but, in the meantime, we have now updated our risk assessment template for church buildings. That can be downloaded from the Coronavirus page of the Church of England website.” Continue reading