New rules for visiting the Parish Office

While our Parish Office is still open, we are now implementing stricter social distancing and hygiene measures to keep our Parish community safe.

A lot of our resources are available online, and we can offer support and conduct our services over the phone and via email. With new state regulations now restricting public gatherings to no more than 2 people, we urge all parishioners and visitors to contact the Parish Office via these means rather than in person.


However, there will still be reasons people may need to visit the Parish Office, and we are here to support you. We ask that anyone who still needs to visit the premises in person, assess the risks, and observe the following practices.


Hygiene and Social Distancing

Anyone who enters the Parish Centre will need to use the hand sanitiser provided at the entrance. Please remain at least 1.5 metres from other people when visiting, including staff, clergy and fellow parishioners.


Meetings and Visiting the Office

Most of our meetings that usually occur in the Parish Office have now been suspended until further notice, or will be conducted over the phone or on video-conferencing sites like Zoom wherever possible.

However some meetings, such as Confession may still need to occur in person. One-on-one meetings will now be conducted outside on Parish grounds, while meetings that require more than 2 people to be present will occur over the phone or via Zoom, due to the new restrictions.

If you have a meeting scheduled with a member of the clergy or Office staff, we ask that you please call the Office ahead to confirm the arrangements for the meeting.

When you arrive at the Office, the front door will be left open, but please ring the inside doorbell (closest to the Office) and step back and wait at the pews provided. It is important visitors wait at the pews to observe social distancing, and ensure our Parish staff and clergy remain safe and can keep our Parish running.


Donations

Donations to keep our Parish running can be made a number of ways, including online. You can read more about how to donate here. However, donations can still be made physically.

If you wish to use our Tap n'Go feature, please come into the Parish Office. The Tap n'Go Donation Point system can be found just inside the Parish Centre entrance.

If you wish to leave cash, please leave it in an envelope and leave it in the 'donations' box provided. Our office windows will be open, so you can let us know through the window that you have dropped off money and we will collect it to keep it safe.

Outside of office hours, please leave any cash donations in an envelope in the letterbox at the end of the driveway at St Charles (2a Charles St, Ryde).


Intentions

For any prayer/Mass intentions for family, friends or loved ones, including the sick, recently deceased, anniversaries and remembrance, parishioners can call or email the Parish Office to make an intention request. Our contact details can be found here. 

If you wish to drop off intention donations, you can do so during Office hours (Mon- Fri, 9am to 4pm) by leaving them in the 'intentions' box in the foyer provided. Our office windows will be open, so you can let us know you through the window that you have dropped off an envelope to keep it safe.

Outside of office hours, please leave any intentions in an envelope in the letterbox at the end of the driveway at St Charles (2a Charles St, Ryde).


Document deliveries
If you wish to drop off any documents to the Parish Office, we ask that where possible you scan/complete them online and email them through to us at office@rgcp.org.au. 

However, if you must physically deliver the documents in person, you can do so during Office hours (Mon- Fri, 9am to 4pm) by leaving them in the 'documents' box in the foyer provided.


Paper Bulletins, Prayer cards and other Resources

We understand that many of our parishioners, especially the elderly, do not have access to the Internet or a computer and find it difficult to connect with us online and access our digital resources. We have therefore provided a small amount of paper resources for these parishioners and their family members, so that they can continue to receive important parish news, resources and information about support services amidst this pandemic.

We have resources available in Italian as well, for anyone who may wish to receive/refer someone else to our Ryde-Gladesville Buddy System. 

You can find these resources just inside the Parish foyer on the table provided.



We thank you for observing these new practices when visiting the Parish Centre. We understand there are a lot of new restrictions being placed on us all at the moment, but these measures are temporary as we do our best to keep our Parish community safe.