The April/May Diocesan Newsletter is now available.

In it, Bishop Mark writes…

Dear Friends,

I am writing this to you from my office at Arpafeelie, the place that now functions as my Provincial office as well. We are in very difficult times and I want to thank the people of this diocese for the gentle and careful way they have put the new guidelines from the Bishops in place. I am aware that some felt we were going too far but as we now know we might not yet have gone far enough.

I don’t want to simply repeat all the things about this virus that you can pick up on the news and elsewhere, I want rather to offer a little lesson from history. This little church of ours, with its distinctive story, has a past that is full of isolation and separation, people unable to worship together, unable to share in the sacrament. This history of the time when we were a persecuted church is one that many hold up as the time of growing strength and resilience, families read the offices together, prayed together and held firmly to their faith. When the days of freedom came again the church grew and developed quicker than many had ever dreamt of.

Now I am not suggesting that this is the same situation but it might require the same resilience, saying the daily offices together at the same time from our own homes, sharing the Sunday readings, phoning and checking up on people. It might just be that we come out of this stronger in faith and stronger in fellowship, who knows, well I suspect God does.

Blessings
+Mark