As you will know the First Minister announced further restrictions and advice. There are no changes on Christmas Day – they all apply to after Christmas.
The full details have not yet been published, so I may have to update this information later, but for now the following are the headlines:
From Sunday 26th December “indoor seated events” will be limited to 200 people. It is not clear if this covers churches, but since sadly there are almost no Sunday Masses with more than 200 present there would likely be almost no impact even if it did. If/when this is clarified I will let you know. The 200 limit may apply to some social events in halls (if any halls can accommodate more than 200 with social distancing anyway), but does not apply to wedding receptions or funeral teas. Indoor standing events are limited to 100, so this might apply to some discos or dances, if these are going ahead in the circumstances.
From Monday 27th December there must be 1m social distancing in hospitality and leisure venues. This does not apply in places of worship, so we do not have to re-impose 1m social distancing at Mass but as I said in my previous emails we are asked to encourage people to distance between groups and should take steps, such as taping off some seats/rows, to support this. 1m distancing will apply to any parish social events, so if you are going ahead with social events in the hall you must have 1m between tables.
From Monday 27th December if you are selling alcohol at social events in the hall this must be done by table service – alcohol is not to be served to guests at the bar.
From Sunday 26th December the Government advises against, but does not actually ban, activities for adults where social distancing cannot be maintained, such non-professional contact sports (e.g. martial arts or certain types of dancing).
The Government intends to review these restrictions on Tuesday 11th January.
These changes should have no impact on worship. They will affect how we arrange halls, including any New Year celebrations, but in the light of the Government’s advice to avoid social activities in general, it may be that you don’t have anything planned in halls anyway.
Sorry for adding more complications at a busy time of year!
With best wishes for a Merry Christmas,