Places of worship not ready for congregational services
Catholic churches to reopen progressively for masses next month
Even as more religious activities will be allowed to resume this Friday, not all religious organisations will be holding congregational services just yet.
Some are still ironing out their safe management plans, while others have opted for a more cautious approach and will stick to online services while remaining open only for private worship.
In an advisory last Thursday, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth said congregational and other worship services with up to 50 people at a time may resume on Friday.
Yesterday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore announced that Catholic churches will reopen progressively next month for masses.
Catholics will be limited to attending one church each in phase two, and slots to attend masses will be allocated fairly through a new portal at myCatholic.sg.
The National Council of Churches Singapore (NCCS) and the Anglican Diocese of Singapore said most of their churches will continue to provide online services.
It is mostly smaller churches that have plans to hold congregational services, for which bookings have to be made.
At these churches, there will be a one- to two-hour gap between services for seats to be cleaned and to prevent cross-mingling of parishioners, they said.
SINGING
NCCS president, Bishop Terry Kee, told The New Paper on Tuesday: "Some of the smaller churches have plans to reopen for a simple service... for up to 50 people. For larger churches, many have decided not to open at this time in view of the restriction against singing as well as the need to cap the number of people to only 50."
Megachurches City Harvest Church and New Creation Church said they will not reopen for on-site worship services for the time being.
Meanwhile, the Sikh Advisory Board said all gurdwaras are currently working on their safe management plans.
Its spokesman said: "For the Sikhs, kirtan (the singing of devotional hymns) forms a core part of congregational worship. We are currently working with the government agencies to see how best to restart kirtan in order to transition from private worship to congregational worship."
Many Buddhist temples will reopen for congregational worship this Friday, with strict crowd control measures in place. Devotees must book worship slots in advance, and temples will control the duration of each slot, said Venerable Kwang Phing, president of the Singapore Buddhist Federation.
He added: "Some have been waiting a long time to visit the temples to pray. They are excited after more than two months, but we must also keep health and safety in mind."
Hindu temples will reopen gradually in phase two, although the Hindu Endowments Board advised devotees last week to continue to pray from their homes using online platforms.
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