Faculty Notices
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Solidarity for Refugee Week at St Paul's
St Paul's will be hosting a small installation of creative pieces by
local schools and community groups on the theme of 'Solidarity' as part
of Refugee Week, a UK-wide festival (2),14th to 19th of June. Creative
pieces will also reflect the lived experience of those seeking asylum
who tell their powerful stories of struggle and hope. Relevant
organisations are also welcome to display information about their work.
Members of the public are invited to take a quiet and reflective walk
around the church to view the installations, open 12.00-2.00 daily.
Fr. Luke Larner, assistant curate at St Paul’s, said:
"St Paul's church, with its history of opening its doors to
individuals from across the world from all walks of life, is ideally
suited to host these displays and to be a point of reference for those
seeking to be informed."
Throughout the week St Paul's will be running an online campaign
including short interviews to hear more about the work many
organisations are doing to support people. Videos will be available on
Facebook,
instagram and
St
Paul’s YouTube channel
Organisations partnered include:
BRASS (Bedford Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support)
Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
Migrants Organise
Local schools
Local art groups
Soul Food Poetry
Strict COVID precautions will be followed at St Paul's in its large and
well-ventilated space.
Earlier this year, Fr. Luke took part in a campaign among other local
faith and community leaders to raise questions about controversial plans
to house 200 people seeking asylum on a temporary site adjacent to
Yarl’s Wood IRC. Concerns were raised about the suitability of the site
and the potential impact on the wellbeing of the proposed occupants. The
plans have now been scrapped, and the site dismantled, with questions
being raised about the process and the significant expenditure on the
project.
Notes:
Refugee Week is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions,
creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
Founded in 1998 and held every year around World Refugee Day on the 20
June, Refugee Week is also a growing global movement. This year's theme
is ' We cannot walk alone'. Through a programme of arts, cultural,
sports and educational events alongside media and creative campaigns,
Refugee Week enables people from different backgrounds to connect as
well as encouraging understanding of why people are displaced, and the
challenges they face when seeking safety. See
www.refugeeweek.org.uk.
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Ash Wednesday service
Marking the start of Lent, our Ash Wednesday service on February 17th
commences as usual at 12.00. The service will be a Eucharist with the
Sprinkling of Ashes. All are welcome.
For more details of services currently being held at St Paul's, please
go to the Worship and prayer section on the home page.
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Letter from Fr Kevin, Vicar
Dear Friends,
I write to update you on our life together at St Pauls. As I said in
last Sunday’s address, the weariness of the harsh journey of the Wise
Men resonates in our own difficult journeying through the past nine
months of lockdowns and restrictions.
As we enter this third lockdown, we are following, as before, official
guidance produced by the Government and the Church of England. That the
Government has allowed churches to remain open for worship and private
prayer seems an affirmation, both of the Church’s efforts in making our
buildings Covid safe and the support we are giving to those who seek our
guidance on spiritual and mental health issues. The Bishop of St Albans
has emphasised that, while the possibility of Covid transmission in
church is miniscule, each parish is free to make its own decision, to
continue to offer public worship, taking into account the local context,
including its ability to provide a safe environment. Because each
context is different, that decision may be different in one place to
another. One size does not fit all and we should refrain from make
judgments about others.
Following consultation with the ministerial team and the PCC’s Standing
Committee, it has been decided that, as things presently stand, we
should keep the building open for private prayer between 12noon and 2pm
from Monday to Saturday. We shall also continue to celebrate the
Eucharist on Sundays at 10.15 and Wednesdays at 12noon. This will be
reviewed, if circumstances change.
While we warmly welcome everyone to our services, no-one should feel
under any pressure to attend. This must be a personal choice. Most of
the more vulnerable members of our community wisely chose not to attend
on the past two Sundays when attendance dropped down to a fifth of our
electoral roll. However, those who did attend found plenty of safe
space. The opportunity to pray privately or worship in church is clearly
valued by a significant number, to whom this is ‘a lifeline’, and has
been a major reason in our decision to keep St Paul’s open. We also hope
to stream services and addresses soon, and I thank members of the
ministerial team and PCC for their help in ensuring pastoral care,
especially as many people are housebound or live alone.
We remind everyone to comply with the national requirements of Hands,
Face and Space. Those with coronavirus symptoms should stay at home;
there should be no mingling with anyone outside our household or support
bubble; a social distance of at least two metres must be maintained, and
hand sanitizer must be used and face coverings be worn.
As we, like the Wise Men, journey on this hard road through Epiphany,
let us pray for each other, for the doctors and nurses in our National
Health Service and for those who deliver our essential services. As we
look to the future, let us remember that God is faithful: so let us
together “put our hands into the hand of God. That shall be to you
better than light and safer than a known way.”
May God bless you all,
Fr Kevin
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We are still open - an update
St Paul's church remains open following the latest Government
announcements regarding Covid-19. We are open every day between Monday
and Saturday for individual prayer, between 12.00 Noon and 2.00pm and
when church welcomers will be on duty. Worship also currently continues
with a weekday Eucharist at 12.00 on Wednesday and the main weekly
service at 10.15am on Sunday.
All the necessary precautions a in place to ensure to everyone's
safety and we kindly ask visitors to wear face coverings and sanitise
their hands on entry and exit to the church. PLease check back here
regularly for further updates.
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Faculty notices
Faculty notices relating to our installation of full Wi-Fi in St Paul's
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Details of church worship
When the church reopens the following protocols will apply.
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The church will be open at 09:45am for the
Eucharist which starts at 10.15am.
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The wearing of face-coverings is now
mandatory.
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A limit of 60 people can be seated in the main
body of the church. Seating has been arranged to accommodate a
mix of individuals, couples and families. |
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Social distancing rules apply. |
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The service will be a Said Eucharist. |
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We ask members of the congregation to enter
through the North door and exit through the West door, making
sure to use hand-sanitiser on arriving and leaving and before
receiving Communion. |
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Communion will be received standing at the front
of the Nave and will be given in one kind only. |
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After the service please leave via the
West-door, no refreshments will be provided until further
notice. |
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Worshippers' details will be taken and kept for
21 days to facilitate Track and Trace, if necessary. |
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Worshippers are reminded to self-isolate if
there is a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the household. |
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St Paul's Church is awarded 'Major Parish Church' statusSt
Paul's church in the centre of Bedford is celebrating its award as a
Major Parish Church and being granted membership of the Major Churches
Network, in recognition of its importance to the town.
The Major Churches Network is a body set up by the Church of England
which comprises 350 of the largest and most significant churches across
England which are not cathedrals but fulfil many of the same functions
within their communities and includes some of the best loved places of
worship around the UK.
There are strict qualifying criteria to become a member such as being a
building of exceptional significance (often Grade I listed), being open
daily to visitors, to have a role which goes beyond a normal parish
church by fulfilling an important civic and cultural role and by making
an economic contribution to their local area.
St Paul's qualifies in all categories - it is the biggest religious
building in the St Albans Diocese after St Albans Cathedral, the civic
and county church of Bedfordshire, and it plays host to events and
concerts throughout the year. For the past year the new Bedford Visitor
Information Centre - which replaced the old Tourist Information when it
closed - has also been based inside the main body of the church.
Canon Fr Kevin Goss, Vicar of St Paul's said: "We are delighted to
have received this recognition and to have been officially designated a
member of the Major Churches Network. We welcome thousands of visitors
every year and would hope this affiliation will boost the church's
profile further, and in doing do attract more visitors into Bedford."
St Paul's is already a member of
Cathedrals Plus, a body that promotes
cathedrals, abbeys, shrines and major churches which already receive
large numbers of visitors. The church is well-known locally for hosting
the annual Christmas Tree Festival in conjunction with Bedford Hospitals
Charity, attracting around 5000 visitors over the five day event.
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