RELIGIOUS activities and traditions were among the earliest victims of the COVID-19 pandemic as governments banned mass gatherings that could help spread the virus. Pope Francis set the example when he cancelled his daily masses attended by thousands in St. Peter’s Square and went online.
Thus churches here and around the world were empty where they were once full of the faithful during Holy Week. Many Philippine churches have remained empty with the ban on mass gatherings imposed by the government in Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) areas.
The two-month ECQ imposed on Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon is due to end on Friday, May 15, although there is a move to extend it another two weeks. When the ECQ is finally ended and Metro Manila eases into a less restrictive General Community Quarantine (GCQ), churches will once again be filled with people.
In preparation for this lifting of restrictions, the Archdiocese of Manila has issued a seven-page protocol for all churches in the archdiocese. Crowd control mechanisms will be implemented to avoid congestion in the churches on Sundays.
Entrance and exit doors will be clearly marked along with footpaths so that incoming churchgoers will not be meeting outgoing ones. There will be footbath containers along with hand sanitizers at entrances and exits. Marshals will check on body temperatures at the entrances. Face masks will be provided to those who have none. In 30 minutes between masses, the pews will be disinfected by volunteers in a “sanitation ministry.” More services will be held during the week to avoid congestion on Sunday. Online Sunday masses will continue.
The protocols also included rules for weddings and other church ceremonies. Weddings will have only the bride and groom, their immediate families, and one set of godparents, with no best man and bridesmaid. Funeral masses will have only the immediate family.
This is the “new normal” in the archdiocese, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, said. They will be part of the gradual easing of restrictions that are now in force because of COVID-19.
Soon enough, we hope, the pandemic will come to an end. People will seek to recover their lost lives. Governments will seek to return to the road to economic progress which they had been forced off. And people will seek to resume their lives, go back to work in offices and factories, go to markets and parks, and go to church to worship and thank God for all his blessings, including, finally, an end to the pandemic.
