Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa
414 Sparks Street K1R 0B2 Ottawa, ON, Canada

Hello and welcome to COVID Communiqué 29. Advent starts on Sunday, and winter is bringing a particular darkness this year: churches in the City of Toronto are l...imited to 10 people at a time for worship, and the dioceses of New Westminster, Edmonton, and Brandon have closed their churches completely. You may be finding increased COVID numbers are keeping some people from church. Have you considered publishing Advent prayers for use at home, and perhaps instructions for making a wreath? Here's an example from St. George’s, Georgetown (Diocese of Niagara): https://bit.ly/3fCyCVo. It’s one small way to bring the focus to faith and the promise of Christ, when so much this year has been about fear and loss. Families and friends could even Zoom their weekly Advent ritual, perhaps including parishioners who live alone and might not bother just for themselves. Sadly, another Advent tradition won’t take place: pastoral visits to take communion to the more frail members of our community won’t be happening, except in exceptional circumstances (you can check with [email protected] for clarification of what that means, if you need to). For the most part, in Amber, pastoral care must be done by way of telephone or online visits. Some hospitals allow in-person visits, depending on circumstances. Check with the hospital if you’re not clear. On a more mundane note, it’s coats-and-boots time here in the Diocese of Ottawa, but we need to keep people from crowding into cloakrooms. One advantage of physical distancing is that people have room to keep their coats with them without taking up valuable real estate in the pews. Remind your sidespeople to ask worshippers to keep their coats with them. If people are uncomfortable wearing their boots or galoshes into church and you have room, you might set out two or three well-distanced chairs for people to sit on as they take off their boots. The problem with this could be creating a backlog while people wait their turn; you’ll have to decide whether that’s too much risk, or you can assign someone to manage it. That’s all for this week if you have questions, Advent ideas, or comments, please don’t hesitate to send a message to [email protected] COVID Communiqué is produced by our senior staff: Shane Parker, Bishop Beth Bretzlaff, Dean Linda Hill, Executive Archdeacon Sanjay Grover, Director of Financial Ministry Peter John Hobbs, Director of Community Ministries Jane Scanlon, Director of Stewardship Development Carol Sinclair, Director of Human Resources

Sunday afternoon we invite you to join us at at 4pm we celebrate the Installation of the Dean of the Diocese of Ottawa and the Rector of Christ Church Cathedral and Installation of Archdeacons and Canons with Archdeacon Pat Johnston as our preacher. The service will be offered in-person and online at https://www.youtube.com/c/christchurchcathedralottawa Pre-registration is required for in-person attendance. We hope you will share this service with others in appropriate ways,... abiding physical distancing. Service music: Communion Service in F by Orlando Gibbons Psalm 100 Motet: Hear the voice and prayer by Thomas Tallis Music in this service is performed by our Cathedral musicians, organist Nicholas Walters accompanied by Voces Cathedræ led by James Calkin. Join us for this special service including guest harpist Gordon Johnston.

Sunday morning we invite you to join us at 10:30 as we celebrate the Reign of Christ Sunday with Dean Beth Bretzlaff as our preacher. The service will be offered in-person and online at https://www.youtube.com/c/christchurchcathedralottawa Pre-registration is required for in-person attendance. We hope you will share this service with others in appropriate ways, abiding physical distancing. Service music: Communion Service in F by Orlando Gibbons Psalm 100... Motet: Hear the voice and prayer by Thomas Tallis Music in this service is performed by our Cathedral musicians, organist Nicholas Walters accompanied by selected men of the Cathedral Choir. See more

Today, on , We pray for those whose lives have been lost or harmed due to transphobic violence. We remember our fourth Mark ...of Mission; To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation. We re-commit ourselves to taking action to protect those most vulnerable in our midst. A virtual service for can be viewed on Proud Anglicans of Huron. #ProudAnglicans #Community #Ottawa #LetUsPray