\nThe Diocese has suspended services in keeping with the Government\u2019s\nrestrictions on public gatherings of more than 20 persons, to help stem the\nspread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The directive to clergy and congregations\nwas issued yesterday (March 17) by the Most Rev. Howard Gregory, Archbishop of\nthe West Indies and Bishop of the Diocese of Jamaica & The Cayman Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a Pastoral Letter, Archbishop Gregory emphasised that, while this was\na drastic step, the Church had a responsibility to adhere to the Government\u2019s\ninstructions. He explained that the decision was taken \u201cnot because of any lack\nof faith, as some would suggest, but out of a concern for the way in which our\npersonal faith positions and actions may hold serious consequences for the life\nand wellbeing of other citizens.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noting that the restrictions on public gatherings were likely to be\nenforced for an extensive period, the Archbishop said they would significantly\ncurtail activities during the current Lenten Season, and Holy Week which leads\ninto Easter, the most important period in the life of the Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preparations for the annual Synod at which the business of the Church is\ndiscussed, have also been impacted. Pre-Synod Conferences scheduled for March 24,\n26 and 28 in Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay have been postponed.\nArchbishop Gregory said it was likely that the Synod, usually held following\nthe Easter holiday, would be deferred to a date to be announced when the threat\nof the pandemic is reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With respect to attendance at funerals and weddings, he urged clergy to\neducate the families concerned about the provisions of the law and to recognize\nthat they would be held liable if they presided at a funeral or wedding at\nwhich the numbers violated the regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime, the Archbishop encouraged the increased use of technology in worship, and as a means of connecting with members during this crisis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Diocese has suspended services in keeping with the Government\u2019s restrictions on public gatherings of more than 20 persons, to help stem the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The directive to clergy and congregations was issued yesterday (March 17) by the Most Rev. Howard Gregory, Archbishop of the West Indies and Bishop of the Diocese…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20366"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20394,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366\/revisions\/20394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}