Since March 2020 the Cathedral has provided a combination of video recording and live streaming Sunday worship. Live streaming Sunday and special worship events are well ‘attended’ with the number of views this fall ranging between 50 and 75 per service. The November worship during Covid orange had 117 views and the fall ordination had 146. Comments and feedback indicate that the streaming is very much appreciated by those who do not attend every week (allowing others a chance to attend with the 50 or 80 maximum) and those who do not feel comfortable worshiping in person. The live streams keep Cathedral people engaged, nourished, and feeling a part of the church community.
This is an investment in the wider Cathedral community and an outreach tool
We believe that video streaming should be part of the Sunday routine in the future, recommend that and request the funding for purchase and installation. This is an investment in the wider Cathedral community and an outreach tool that will appeal to those not currently part of a church family. To date, we have used a web camera and computer belonging to Peter Jacobs. Video editing, when it has occurred, again has used personal computers. There has been a steep learning curve regarding pricing and determining the specifics, but it has been successful, and we have used what we have learned to create this proposal. We want to proceed quickly in order to provide a higher quality solution which will be simpler to provide as soon as possible. To date Peter Jacobs and Kirsten McKnight have been operating the live stream, but we would add to those numbers and create a sign-up category to ensure each event is covered.
On Friday evening, 7:00 p.m., 20 November 2020, J. Thomas Gonder, Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church Cathedral will be in concert.
Thomas recently played a concert at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Moncton and will reprise several of the selections from that concert at the Cathedral.
There is no charge for tickets (get them here) with the hope that any and all who wish to attend are able to do so. Donations to the Cathedral Organ Renovations Fund are encouraged and welcome.
In this video message, Archbishop and Primate Linda Nicholls reflects on the challenges we are facing as individuals and as a community of faith during this time of pandemic. The light on the darkest days is our shared faith in Jesus Christ, and our practice of prayer brings us the gifts of stability and hope.
On the eve of a historic election and in the midst of pandemic and racial reckoning, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will call Americans together for a live-streamed prayer service from Washington National Cathedral. The Holding on to Hope service will be held on All Saints Sunday, November 1, at 4:00-5:30 pm EST, and viewers can join in a variety of ways.
Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton NB is seeking a Sexton. Reporting to the Dean of Fredericton and working with the Committee on Properties, the successful candidate will provide custodial (janitorial), cleaning, maintenance and oversight of both the Cathedral Church and the Cathedral Memorial Hall.
The work involves maintaining assigned premises in a clean and orderly condition with the goal of institutional health and safety. Minor repairs as required. Duties include sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing, waxing and polishing floors and furniture as well as cleaning washrooms, windows, lights, walls and maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen. Work also involves snow and ice removal from entrances, mowing lawns, routine preventative maintenance, maintaining fire safety equipment and generally assuring access and security of both facilities.
The is a full-time position, 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday with flexibility when necessary due to special events or weather requiring the sexton's services.
Qualifications include completion of Grade 12 and a minimum of three years’ experience in custodial and maintenance work; or equivalent combination of training and experience. Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work in a team environment are important. Compliance with Safe Church policies requires the necessary version of a current police record check.
Application deadline is 19 October 2020. Only short-listed candidates will be interviewed. A full position description is available upon request. Please provide a resume and covering letter addressed to the Search Committee.
To inquire or to apply:
search at cccath.ca [replace “at” with “@”]
or
Christ Church Cathedral
168 Church Street
Fredericton NB E3B 4C9
(506) 450-8500
christchurchcathedral.com
The Diocesan Synod Finance Committee is looking for people with a keen interest in investments to serve on its Investment Sub-committee. The committee monitors the Diocesan Consolidated Investment Fund (DCIF) and working with its portfolio manager offers advice and recommendation to the Finance Committee regarding these funds. Given the importance of investment income to the Cathedral, many parishes as well as the Synod itself, people skilled in this field who have an interest in serving are being invited to inquire.
If you know of someone you think has the skills and interest, please pass on this request. Those interested are asked to send a brief summary (250 words or less) of background and interest in this area to interim chairperson Scott Fairweather at <fairws at nbnet.nb.ca> (replace the 'at' with '@') or contact the Synod Office (506) 459-1801.
Following an extraordinary time for everyone caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the church too was struggling, and continues to struggle, with new ways of doing what we do. Even in the midst of a society lockdown, there is even more need for ministry, need for worship, need for communication.
At Christ Church Cathedral, with the help of many, we continue to live into this “new normal.” Over the months March to June, we gained some experience with some very different ways of doing things. Most of what we attempted came with a considerable learning curve as most everything we did required new, unfamiliar ways. The good news is that we have that experience behind us and will without doubt be better prepared for our future because of it.
Some very good and interesting questions have been asked over the past several weeks. The answers too are interesting and its worth sharing them for the inquiring minds that want to know.
How much does streamed Cathedral worship cost?
YouTube is a free service provided by Google. There is no charge to upload or watch videos on YouTube. It is necessary for the YouTube account to “qualify” to be able to upload videos longer than 15 minutes. The qualification involves making an application for the account and a confirmation of ownership credentials, a relatively easy process. Other streaming services are also available at reasonable rates. But ...
While it’s free to stream, it’s not always “free” to create the content. It depends largely on the people with the skill set necessary and the availability of the equipment necessary. If either of those is lacking, it indeed costs. Production by a professional can easily be outside of a realistic budget for most churches. Unless someone is willing to loan personal computer and camera equipment, there is that upfront cost.
If you watched video streams from the cathedral during that time, you will have noticed changes to how the video was delivered. We began on that first Sunday in March with a “live” stream, meaning that what the camera was seeing was immediately broadcast on YouTube. There were some glitches in that attempt and we quickly came to a decision that pre-recording and posting for Sunday might be the less stressful approach. Pre-recorded and edited video was provided from then to the first Sunday of in-person worship on 07 July. On that Sunday, we returned to the live stream approach.
Why? Over the course of Sundays pre-recorded, the Dean began to experiment a bit with multiple video sources. Since the final product needed to be edited before posting to YouTube, there was an opportunity to put some additional polish on the project. Using several personally owned pocket HD video cameras, in addition to the one webcam feed being provided by Peter Jacobs, three additional angles were recorded. Using software and multi-clip editing technology, these were synchronized and an edited final cut produced using a relatively high-end computer and software. The recording itself is the thin edge of the wedge. Editing such a project means 8-10 hours of rather intense editing work, assuming all goes as planned. Even then, it’s an amateur product, although probably utterly impossible 10 years ago. Cost is not always measured in dollars. Needless to say, all things considered, the true “cost” is somewhat substantial.
So time is an issue. The skills required is an issue. The imposition, inconvenience, and perhaps even availability of using personally owned hardware is an issue - the moment the person isn’t available neither is the equipment.
How many people viewed streamed Cathedral worship over the last several months?
When viewing a YouTube video, at the bottom left (or in the brief description under the video thumbnail in a list of videos) you should see how many views the video has had. This number is not necessarily an assurance the viewer watched the whole vide, but it does give an indication of how many opened it at least once.
Cathedral Sunday Stream Views
Views
Date
Views
Date
Views
Date
* 62
12 Jul 20
487
31 May 20
539
26 Apr 20
* 131
05 Jul 20
426
24 May 20
567
19 Apr 20
176
28 Jun 20
402
17 May 20
947
12 Apr 20
162
21 Jun 20
453
10 May 20
1396
05 Apr 20
250
14 Jun 20
527
03 May 20
1109
29 Mar 20
290
07 Jun 20
* 1176
22 Mar 20
* Live stream
How many people listen to Cathedral podcasts (audio)?
Audio podcasts have been consistently made available for Cathedral worship and sermons since early in 2015. Since March of 2019, average subscribers are 77-80 with the maximum being 121 during that time. “Subscribers” are the number of users who have used podcast applications to “subscribe.” being notified whenever a new podcast file is posted. “Hits” to Cathedral podcasts average 125 per day, according to Feedburner, although most in the know point out that a "hit" is only an indication of a click, which could be from a person or a web search robot. Worship podcasts are a simple upload of the recorded audio with some edits to volume levels, and removing dead space and distracting imperfections in the recording where necessary. Sermons are primarily by the Dean and include an introductory and concluding voice-over.
How has the Cathedral been able to remain financially stable during the pandemic lock-down?
It is without doubt that the appeal, guided and prepared by our Stewardship Team early on, to “catch up and keep up” with offerings, was instrumental in communicating the reminder to all of us who support the ministry of Christ Church Cathedral. The efforts to begin e-offering or slide offering envelopes through the mail slot at the Memorial Hall have been responsible for our being able to stay ahead and meet on-going expenses. We continue to make cost-saving adjustments and some of those expenses were understandably lower during that time, but many also continue. We should be especially thankful that we were able to maintain staff salaries. Most members of staff continued to work without being physically present in their offices.
The other significant reality is the generous Federal Government initiative, extended to charitable organizations late in March, to keep Canadians working during the pandemic crisis,. The Cathedral was fortunate to have qualified for the federal wage subsidy (75%) for the first three periods. Future qualification for that subsidy remains to be seen. To the end of June 2020 we find ourselves $7,743 behind in expenses over revenue. It could have been much worse.
Will we be able to continue with streamed worship video even after we have resumed in-person worship?
It’s the question many are asking as many continue to rely on being able to join us “virtually” without being present “personally.” A valuable offering indeed.
The short answer is, providing a live stream version of worship requires some technical skill but is relatively less labour intensive than creating an edited, pre-recorded video. It’s a worship outreach the Cathedral needs to give serious consideration. The barriers include not being equipped with the hardware or the engaged skilled individuals necessary to make this just part of what we normally do.
With some equipment and some trained operators, we’d be able to do what we have “cobbled” together over the last few months. With some additional equipment, we would be able to do a good job of providing worship broadcast as a mainstay, making live streaming readily available for any event within the Cathedral.
We’re currently investigating the dollar cost of a set up for that possibility.
If you have a further question or a thought, why not leave a comment on this post? Type in the comment box and leave your name and email.
Beginning in-person worship
Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton NB
19 June 2020
A joke has gone somewhat “viral” on social media in Christian circles over the last few weeks. The Dean’s version follows.
A young Christian man, relatively new to the faith, was approached by the “father of lies,” Satan himself, just after the onset of the announcement of a pandemic caused by the nova coronavirus leading to lock down in early 2020. “Take that!” said the devil. “I’ve singlehandedly closed all of your churches with one tiny virus!” “On the contrary,” replied the young man. “You’ve singlehandedly opened churches in every home of every one who calls themselves a Christian!”
Many are asking, “When can we return?” All of us long for what was. We took our normal all too much for granted when it was ours and we suddenly find ourselves in a different world. That’s not to suggest with any certainty that “things” won’t one day return to what we remember. But we have been called to alert. The possibility and even likelihood of pandemic has always been nearer than most are willing to admit. With the particular illness of the current pandemic our health, especially the health of our most vulnerable, is at stake and that we need to continue to take it very seriously.
A Cathedral task group has been hard at work to examine information available to us including from public health officials and our own local situation to determine our best and safest response to the current circumstance. We need to minimize risk while at the same time be conscious of the spiritual needs of the Cathedral and the wider community and continue to be who we are. We can not officially be out of step with what is recommended and required by public health, knowingly or unthinkingly puting any at risk.
We have lots of advice and good information about how we can begin to gather safely. Initially there is no suggestion that, nor can we, simply return to what most of us consider “normal.”
As of this writing, the Bishop and Chapter has concurred with recommendations of the Task Group that we begin with celebrations of the Holy Eucharist, every other Wednesday, beginning on 24 June (The Feast of St. John the Baptist). This or any future gatherings will need to adhere to direction found in the then current “Operational Plan.” The Plan is a requirement of the NB Department of Health and will guide us as we gather safely. Modifications to it will be made as appropriate and necessary.
We all need to be aware – in-person worship is not going to look or feel like what we remember, at least not initially. What will be different?
• anyone with a symptom of any illness needs to stay home
• total participant limits assured by a system of reservation for worship
• face masks will be worn by members of the congregation at all times
• strict screening before entry
• physical distancing (2 metres) maintained at all times
• frequent hand washing, use of hand sanitizer and not touching surfaces unnecessarily
• strict protocols in the administration of the Sacrament
• no food or refreshments served or shared
• socializing only from a distance and preferably outside
Hoping to offer as much clarity as possible, the following step by step guide may be of help. If your wish and intention is to attend worship at Christ Church Cathedral, these are 10 things you need to know:
1. Self-monitor. If you have any reason whatsoever to believe that you have an illness, stay at home, even if you have successfully reserved as a participant
2. Reserve. Visit the Cathedral Worship Sign-up (Cathedral website – top right corner “Cathedral Signups” Signup as “Worship Participant” for the desired event. If you haven’t signed up before you’ll be asked for your email address. If you’re signing up for more than one person, please leave a comment with the details. There is a maximum number.
OR telephone (506) 406-2548 and leave a voicemail message indicating:
1) your name 2) your telephone number 3) the service you wish to attend
Reservations should be made before 8:00 p.m. on the previous day and telephone requests will be confirmed by phone.
Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. Consideration will be given to those who have not been able to attend due to limitations
3. Enter. Greeters will answer questions and instruct you about what you need to know
4. Face mask. If at all possible, it is preferred that you bring your own non-medical face mask and begin wearing it before you enter the Cathedral. Face masks cannot be worn by some. Be accommodating of those without them
5. Screening. Read the posted screening questions. If you answer “yes” to any of the questions, please do not enter. A greeter will ask for confirmation
6. Seating. Follow the direction of Greeters regarding seating beginning to fill pews from the front
7. Materials. There will be no prayer books or hymn books in the pews. If materials are considered required, they will be available for pickup upon entry. Please take them home with you
8. Communion. At Communion, approach in one line in the centre aisle, observing physical distance markings. Return to your pew by way of the side aisles. The host will be safely delivered in your hands
9. Exit. After worship, Greeters will direct exit beginning from pews at the back
10. Socializing. Outdoors only and observe physical distancing (2 metres)
As we make our first attempts to organize in-person gatherings, we’ll continue to monitor public health protocols, what works and what does not and adjust our Plan and processes accordingly.
At least some of the volunteer needs we’ll have as we begin are listed here. As we progress, these are likely to increase. Training will be provided. Please contact a member of the Operational Plan Task Group, leave your offer at the worship reservation phone number or watch Cathedral Signups for opportunities to help.
Special tasks Cleaning and sanitation
Reservation administration
The Task Group
Wayne Burley (506) 440-8663
Thomas Gonder (506) 230-4968
Geoffrey Hall (506) 450-7761
Catherine MacDonald (506) 209-1226
Kathleen Snow (506) 461-8201
Mike Toole (506) 455-4530
Someone recently asked a church member when they expected their church to "re-open." They responded with, "I didn't know it was closed!"
Just because doors of a building are locked doesn't mean we're closed. Over the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been forcefully reminded that "the Church" is not the building.
"The response of the Cathedral to the reminder that our financial commitments remain, even during a pandemic, is very encouraging and to be commended," said Dean Hall. "Many if not most of our usual ministries continue and there are many in new forms and disguises. We continue to be the Church and the financial support of our membership to the on-going ministry of the Cathedral needs to be recognized."
"While ceasing corporate worship and bringing in-person gatherings to a halt at Christ Church Cathedral was challenging," said Dean Geoffrey Hall, "re-opening and meeting new safety requirements is going to be the far more difficult task. We've learned many lessons along the way about how to be the Church even when not physically present to one another, and there are many lessons left to learn as we move towards what's often referred to as the new normal."
Following NB Health guidelines and implementing requirements and restrictions is going to need the co-operation of everybody. Summing up most of those requirements as they apply to the Cathedral is a detailed "operational plan" describing how we will proceed with gathering. The organization and the safeguards that will be in place need to be documented and understood.
What might be most challenging for us all is what the "new normal" is going to look like. Some of us are eager to return to gathering but at the same time, we need to be very conscious of keeping everyone as safe as possible. Physical distance and number maximums are going to introduce challenging aspects needing our full attention. No corporate singing, sharing of food (or hugs), or socializing, is going to make "church" look and feel very different. And, it's all still changing rapidly making the need to stay in step with what health authorities are telling us imperative.
We're not in any rush to open things up.
Among the changes we can expect are: the need to reserve for worship attendance, screening procedures upon entrance, directed seating, face masks, no corporate singing, and closely followed protocols around the administration and making of Communion.
"None of this is outside of our capability," said Dean Hall. "It's just going to need to be well planned, administered and maintained. We're not in any rush to open things up. We'll do it when we're ready, when we're confident we can minimize risk and can assure the safety of all."
Part of that process is creating the detailed "operational plan" required to be on-site should the gathering be monitored by Provincial officials. We need to be able to illustrate that we have carefully planned and be able to account for the circumstances under which we gather, the implementation of safeguards, procedures and restrictions.
"The current lifting of restrictions for religious gatherings by NB Health (up to 50 indoors) is very generous," said the Dean. "We need to receive that gift with all manner of seriousness."
A task group has been at work over the last several weeks considering the details of the "operational plan." That group includes Wayne Burley, Catherine MacDonald, Kathleen Snow, Thomas Gonder, Mike Tool and the Dean of Fredericton. It's a document that will be ever-changing and adjusted. The most recent version will be at the same link on the Cathedral website.
"We need to express our thanks to these individuals so willing to put the time and effort into the planning needed on our behalf," said the Dean. "There will be need for volunteers for all sorts and descriptions of the new and necessary. Even what we've "always done" may need to be done differently. Please consider saying 'yes' to requests for help."
The operational plan is very close to completion (current version here) but decisions are still being considered and nothing is carved in stone. Information should be available this week regarding our way forward.
A newsletter project of the Bishop and Chapter Communications Committee begun during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis to share information and stories about members of Christ Church Cathedral and others.
Since March 2020 the Cathedral has provided a combination of video recording and live streaming Sunday worship. Live streaming Sunday and special worship events are well ‘attended’ with the number of views this fall ranging between 50 and 75 per service. The November worship during Covid orange had 117 views and the fall ordination had 146. Comments and feedback indicate that the streaming is very much appreciated by those who do not attend every week (allowing others a chance to attend with the 50 or 80 maximum) and those who do not feel comfortable worshiping in person. The live streams keep Cathedral people engaged, nourished, and feeling a part of the church community.
We believe that video streaming should be part of the Sunday routine in the future, recommend that and request the funding for purchase and installation. This is an investment in the wider Cathedral community and an outreach tool that will appeal to those not currently part of a church family. To date, we have used a web camera and computer belonging to Peter Jacobs. Video editing, when it has occurred, again has used personal computers. There has been a steep learning curve regarding pricing and determining the specifics, but it has been successful, and we have used what we have learned to create this proposal. We want to proceed quickly in order to provide a higher quality solution which will be simpler to provide as soon as possible. To date Peter Jacobs and Kirsten McKnight have been operating the live stream, but we would add to those numbers and create a sign-up category to ensure each event is covered.
