Church gatherings

Churches and all other like buildings be allowed to open.

Why the contribution is important

Churches are ideally sized for " social distancing " in that pews can be blocked off to a 2 metre (or more) rule, Catholic churches had already refrained from Holy water font use, and ceased the practice of wishing each neighbour a Peace symbol (shaking of hands) replacing it with a bowing of the head to a fellow worshipper. The practice of receiving Communion can be overcome by worshippers taking their own "Eucharist" from a remote paten/plate.

by ptonner on May 05, 2020 at 01:37PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.2
Based on: 18 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Switchqueen May 05, 2020 at 13:42

    I understand why churches want to open but hard to limit attendees - is someone really going to stop people at the door?
    I would suggest possibly Sacraments like weddings and baptisms could be allowed with small groups (10?) as funerals are now.

  • Posted by hma May 05, 2020 at 13:48

    weekly gatherings in a open space within the church grounds, weather permitting, with social distancing in mind should be allowed. All necessary precautions should be taken to avoid personal contact in such gatherings

  • Posted by Belladonna May 05, 2020 at 13:51

    Why do churches need to open? God is everywhere, not just in the physical construct of a building. Many Catholic Churches are now streaming weekday and Sunday masses, and a parish priest is always available at the end of a phone. Even with social distancing, a church is a place of mass gathering, for which as yet we have no method of safe implementation.

  • Posted by bobbie18 May 05, 2020 at 14:03

    Churches should only be open for weddings funerals and baptisms but congregations kept to s minimum dependent on the size of the establishment

  • Posted by joemaceachen May 05, 2020 at 15:17

    While all denominations would love Churches, Mosques, Synagogues etc to be re-opened it is clear that this should only be done when it is safe to do so. Speaking as a Roman Catholic I was interested to read that churches in Spain are either re-opening or have re-opened with a limit of 30% of the normal congregation attending Mass? That might be one way forward in Scotland but how would you be able to implement that? I wonder? I am sure many Catholics would accept going back to Church with some of the restrictions which were in place just prior to Churches closing entirely. It has been good to have the opportunity to have Mass streamed for us in some Parishes but it is not the same as being able to physically attend Mass as we believe Christ is present there in the form of the Eucharist which we receive in Holy Communion. Very few Catholics had an issue with Churches closing as given the circumstances it was the correct decision to take. I am sure the Scottish Government is consulting with the leaders of all denominations as to how to open places of worship and I would be confident that solutions which would be acceptable to all concerned.

  • Posted by CarlaMSteele1990 May 06, 2020 at 09:58

    For those asking how we could implement a 30% capacity rule - realistically most churches operate at that level on a normal Sunday. Most religious buildings in our country were built years ago when church attendance was much higher.

    For larger congregations there are many simple ways to do this eg. if your surname is A-M come one week, N-Z come the next week. But individual congregations could work out the best policy for their specific group.

  • Posted by Elena May 06, 2020 at 22:40

    As a daily Mass goer myself, I could see daily Masses with sign ups so that no more than 20 are at any given daily Mass and only allow people to sign up for one Mass every week or fortnight so that everyone gets a chance. For Catholics at any rate. The question would be how to distribute Communion but I saw an interesting idea where they had a standing window, like a moveable chalkboard from classrooms, but the middle was made of glass. The priest could still see the person he was distributing communion do and the communicant could still see the priest. The communicant put their hands under the glass to receive and the priest was using handsanitizer between communicants (or families of communicants). Something like that might be feasible with some effort on the part of the laity.

  • Posted by kpm321 May 10, 2020 at 17:04

    I agree. Social distancing would be easy to implement in most church buildings.
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