KUCHING: St Joseph’s Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in Kuching, has reopened for Sunday masses after being closed for three months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuching, Archbishop Simon Poh other city churches such as St. Mark’s Church, Carmelite Church, St Peter’s Church and Mother Mary Chapel had also opened.
Last weekend, smaller Catholic churches in Lundu, Bunan Gega, Tebedu, Sri Aman, Betong, Saratok reopened.
“At St. Joseph’s Cathedral, we started the mass services in Mandarin at 5pm on Saturday and in English at 8pm.
“On Sunday, we conducted the live streaming for the 8am, 9.15am and 10.30am masses. The mass services in the church are at 2pm for Bahasa Malaysia mass and 5pm for the English mass,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when met at the cathedral on Sunday (July 5).
Poh said for now, churches in the Archdiocese of Kuching would only allow 100 members to attend each mass. They would increase the maximum capacity to 250 people per mass as allowed by the federal government once they were ready.
“We have put in place all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as marking the one-metre social distancing on the benches, temperature checks at the entrance and when the worshippers go for Holy Communion. The churches must also be disinfected after the masses,” he said.
Poh said other SOPs that church members had to adhere included pre-registering or calling before going to the churches. They were advised to turn up an hour earlier before the masses so that church wardens could usher them to their seats respectively.
“On a regular Sunday, St Joseph’s Cathedral has over 6,000 Catholics at all its five masses on a weekend, but due to Covid-19 and in compliance with the SOPs, the attendance is reduced to 100 people first. So, we take the effort to make the masses available to those who cannot attend by continuing to do the live streaming.”
“I also take the opportunity to thank my priests, parish pastoral councils and service teams who have worked conscientiously to implement the SOPs for the reopening of the churches for worship. I would like to acknowledge the church volunteers who have come forward to serve in all these teams.
“Also, I want to thank Catholics for their patience, understanding and support as we gradually reopen the doors of our churches,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bishop of the Anglican Church in Sarawak and Brunei, Right Reverend Datuk Danald Jute, when met at the St Thomas Cathedral, said the Anglican churches reopened last weekend, also with strict SOPs imposed.
Similarly, members have to register with the respective Anglican churches before attending the masses.
“People have been very cooperative and I want to thank and praise them. Slowly as the weeks pass, we will continue to increase the number of people from 100 to 250.
“This is because we want to take a very cautious approach and ensure our members are safe. That is our primary concern,” he said, adding that there would be 2,000 members attending the Sunday masses at St. Thomas Cathedral on normal days.
He said for the Sunday masses, there would be two; one is at 8.30am in English and the other one at 10.30am in Mandarin. Meanwhile, live streaming of the masses continues.
“Beginning next week, we will have an additional service, that is the Iban service, at 2pm. People can come to pray in the church and that will also be live streamed,” he said.
Danald said as the pandemic was not over yet it was important to be cautious and urged everyone to abide by the SOPs.
“So far, Malaysia is doing very well in managing and containing this spread of the virus, especially in Sarawak. I think we just have to keep this up.
“Therefore, I want to encourage everyone to simply comply with the SOPs so that at the end of it all, we can celebrate together, and thank God and thank everyone,” he said.
