The Celebration of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) is one of the highlights of the Christian year, and for very good reason.
Our celebrations in 2020, however, will look significantly different from what they have the past because of the continuing presence of COVID‐19 in our community. This presence requires the observing
of a number of restrictions in the way we celebrate Christmas in the Cathedral, largely concerning the number of persons who will be able to attend, and the regrettable absence of the singing together of
well known carols (at least according to the rules in place at the time of this post).
The schedule of Christmas Masses in the Cathedral for 2020 can be found on the Mass Times page.
In addition to the celebration of Mass for Christmas, three of them will be live‐streamed so that those unable to attend in person for whatever reason can join the worshipping assembly in a virtual fashion. The Masses to be live-streamed will be the 5 pm Vigil Mass, the Midnight Mass, and the 9.30 am Christmas Day Mass.
And now, the bad news.
Because of the restrictions on the number of persons who can be in the Cathedral, each of the Christmas Masses (apart from the two Polish-language Masses) will need to be ‘ticketed’, i.e. you will need to register in advance in order to attend.
We regret the need to do this, but believe it is the only way to manage the situation efficiently and with some equity.
Registration will be via the Eventbrite website as this permits both the addition of extra spaces if public health orders change, and will also permit the easier collection of contact details of those attending.
Public access to the Eventbrite website will open at the beginning of December and will be able to be accessed from the Mass Times page of this website as well as from a button on the home page. For those without internet access, please contact Fr Andrew or the Office who will assist you.
In terms of registration, there are a few requests that we would make:
- Please do not register to attend more than one Mass, as this will take up spaces that others might access. Please be considerate of your brothers and sisters.
- Please do not register for more people than you have confirmed will be attending as this too will take up spaces that others might access.
- If you register, and subsequently determine that you are unable to attend, please let Fr Andrew know so that space can be offered to another person.
- Please do not assume that you can simply turn up on the evening and be admitted—only those with valid registrations will be permitted to enter the Cathedral. To do otherwise is simply unjust to
those who have registered in advance.
One of the advantages of using the Eventbrite website to manage registrations for our Christmas Masses is that it is easier to increase the number of spaces available should public health orders change
to permit this.
The other advantage is that the Eventbrite website allows for the creation of a ‘waitlist’ for each of the Masses so that if a space becomes available those seeking to attend a particular Mass can be contacted
automatically.
We realise that the additional requirements necessary to attend Christmas Masses this year are burdensome, and truly wish we had another option. We don’t, however, and so we ask for your patience and
cooperation as we seek to celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.