Vadodara, June 15, 2020: The Catholic Church in Gujarat, western India, has opened its churches on June 15 only “for silent personal prayers.”
A circular from the Catholic bishops of Gujarat on June 13 stated that the churches will continue to keep its Masses for public suspended until the Covid-19 situation in the country improves.
The federal government had allowed religious places of worship to open June 8 under the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“The government is doing its best to contain this pandemic and we have been cooperating fully with the directives given by them. We were hoping that we would be able to begin Holy Mass in the churches from 8 June, but the cases in Gujarat are increasing with each passing day and we really do not know how many Covid-19 asymptomatic patients are moving among us after the opening up of the lockdown,” the bishops’ circular says.
They said noted that people have become “more vulnerable than we were before” and that “we seem to enter into the community transmission stage.” Cautioning the need for being more careful than before, the bishops said only churches in non-containment zones can be opened from June 14, the feast of Corpus Christi for visit to the Blessed Sacrament and personal prayer.”
The bishops allowed keeping the churches open daily to let people offer silent prayers at their respective pre-decided timings.
Another circular by Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, apostolic administrtor of Baroda, says individual parish priest would be responsible for ensuring adherence to the prescribed government protocols for religious places, including social distancing, prohibiting entry of persons above 65 and below 10 years of age, prohibiting offerings inside the church, regular disinfection of premises, among other operating protocols.
Churches in Gujarat have remained closed since the beginning of the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown starting March 25.
Some churches have been streaming their daily Mass on social media.
Source: The Indian Express