‘This is the beginning of a new phase,’ says city Bishop

WITH A flock scattered to the four winds, The Reverend Michael Smith prepared yesterday to broadcast from inside York Minster.

The cathedral has been closed since the beginning of the quarantine but the House of Bishops relaxed its restrictions on access by the clergy earlier this month, a dispensation that will see the Canon Pastor conduct a pre-recorded digital evensong, with readings, psalms and recorded music from the York Minster Choir, broadcast each Sunday on social media.

This weekend will also see the first appearance in church since the lockdown of Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, who will lead a pre-recorded Sunday morning service for Pentecost, at Ripon Cathedral.

He said: “I invite everyone in the diocese and beyond to join me in celebrating and praying for our neighbours at home and abroad.

“We look forward to being together physically again in due course; but, this is the beginning of a new phase in this pandemic and our response to it.”

The Deans of the two other cathedrals in the Diocese of Leeds – Bradford and Wakefield – will contribute readings to the Ripon service and there will be music from all three.

The Dean of Ripon, John Dobson, said: “The prayer and worship of the church has been sustained in the community throughout the period of locked churches. We have come to realise afresh just how significant these sacred spaces are.”

The feast of Pentecost, or Whit Sunday, is celebrated 50 days after the Resurrection and considered the birthday of the church itself.

The restriction on congregations in churches is expected to remain in place for some time.

We have come to realise just how significant these sacred spaces are.

John Dobson, The Dean of Ripon.