Evening Mass in Catholic churches -We cannot allow a crowd. So, with more Mass, more people can come but not all together
There will be no Midnight Holy Mass this year on 24th December (Thursday) 2020. Instead an Evening Mass will be celebrated
“The celebrations of Christmas this year will be simpler as well as poor-oriented. There will be no Midnight Holy Mass this year on 24th December (Thursday) 2020. Instead an Evening Mass will be celebrated on 24th December 2020, which should end latest by 9pm that day and the Church should remain closed until the following morning. Parish priests and priests-in-charge are requested to get this organised accordingly,” Archbishop D’Souza said in the circular.
There are 65 churches under the archdiocese of Calcutta, including the Church of Christ the King in Park Circus, St Thomas’ Church in Middleton Row, St Ignatius Church in Kidderpore, Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary and St Teresa’s Church.
“We have taken this decision as a precaution against the pandemic and to avoid crowds. We do not know how the situation will be this year because usually there is a huge crowd for the Midnight Mass,” Archbishop D’Souza told Metro.
The Archbishop said that on Christmas, too, there would be more than one Mass in some of the churches to spread out the crowd.
“We cannot allow a crowd. So, with more Mass, more people can come to the church but not all together,” Archbishop D’Souza said.
There will not be more than 50 or 60 people in a gathering, depending on the capacity of the church, the archbishop said.
In October, a circular issued by the Archbishop to the Roman Catholic churches allowed 10 to 50 people for services, prayer and Holy Mass, depending on the size of the church.
The circular issued on Saturday said: “On 25th December 2020 (Friday), Holy Mass will be celebrated in the parish churches and other chapels, observing the required standard operating procedures (SOP) strictly.”
In the circular, the Archbishop has also referred to the poor.
“The poor are the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The generosity shown by all so far is commendable. Let us remember the poor very specially again at Christmas. I exhort the Parish Priests and their Parish Council, Associations and Action Groups to organise collection of funds, and distribute rations or clothes or other needs to the poor in the parishes. This will help us to make Christmas very relevant too,” Archbishop D’Souza has said.
“The Midnight Mass is a traditional practice and very popular. The churches are usually filled to capacity every year. But this year everything will be over by 9pm,” said Father Dominic Gomes, vicar general of the archdiocese of Calcutta.
The December 26 gathering of priests and religious leaders usually held at Archbishop’s House has been cancelled. The Christmas gathering of Diocesan seminarians will not be held this year, the circular says.
“On 31st December 2020 (Thursday): Parishes will organise Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for an hour or longer in the evening to thank the Lord for the year 2020,”the circular says.
The Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India is going ahead with the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in its churches. “We will have it but taking all necessary precautions,” said John Ghosh, the secretary of the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India.
There are about 30 churches in the Calcutta diocese, including St Paul’s Cathedral, St Thomas’ Church Free School Street, St James’ Church. But not all 30 have the Midnight Mass.
A giraffe calf, born late last month at Alipore zoo, let out in front of visitors for the first time on Saturday morning. The male calf did a few rounds of the enclosure in between cosying up to his mother, Lakshmi. The calf, born on November 27, stands 4.5ft tall and weighs around 70kg, said a zoo official.
0 Response to "Evening Mass in Catholic churches -We cannot allow a crowd. So, with more Mass, more people can come but not all together"
Post a Comment
Kalimpong News is a non-profit online News of Kalimpong Press Club managed by KalimNews.
Please be decent while commenting and register yourself with your email id.
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.