Guidelines for Masses: Thermal scans, less singing, no processions

The Archdiocese of Manila has laid down guidelines on the conduct of religious activities, including the Mass, once the government allows their resumption.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Manila apostolic administrator, issued the pastoral guidelines on Thursday, 10 days before the easing of the lockdown in Metro Manila to general community quarantine.

“Religious services are also essential services,” he pointed out.

Pabillo and other Church leaders have been urging the government to allow religious activities to resume under strict precautions.

The pastoral guidelines were issued to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during religious services, the bishop said. He said these were temporary, and could change depending on the situation or directives from the government or the Church.

Half-hour gap

“These guidelines are given so that we are prepared when religious services will be allowed,” he said.

There will be a half-hour gap between Masses to allow the church to be disinfected after each service, Pabillo said.

He encouraged priests to hold more services on weekdays and additional Masses on Saturdays.

“The presence of difficulty, and in some cases impossibility, of fulfilling the Sunday obligation renders the obligation suspended during these extraordinary circumstances,” Pabillo said.

He said the streaming of Masses would continue at least on Sundays for those unable to take part in community celebrations due to sickness, old age, fear and caution. He added that children and the elderly would be advised to stay home and hear Mass online.

Wearing face masks will be obligatory for everyone attending Mass and other church services, as well as for priests, altar servers and lay ministers.

Low-priced face masks should be available at parish offices.

No more offerings

There will no longer be offertory processions, Pabillo said. Offerings may be dropped in a box or basket at the back of the church and people will be assigned to bring these to the front of the altar during offertory. There will be no more offering of bread and wine from the faithful.

Hand-holding and handshaking will be disallowed during the “Our Father” and the peace greeting. “A bow with a [smile] can already be a good sign of peace,” Pabillo said.

When the host is placed on the hands of the communicant during Communion, there will no longer be any conversation between the minister and the communicant.

The flow of communicants should be managed to prevent any meeting of the faithful.

Pabillo said ministers could bring Communion to the sick and the elderly. He said arrangements could be made for Communion in chapels for those indisposed to join community celebrations due to fear and caution.

Communion may also be given outside houses in areas without chapels, he said, adding that the faithful would be catechized on the proper internal disposition before receiving Communion.

The “Oratio Imperata” is to be prayed during Mass. The “Mass in Time of Pandemic,” recently provided by the Holy See, may also be celebrated, Pabillo said.

Physical distancing

The body temperature of those entering the church will be taken using a thermal body scan, and church entrances and exits should have a foot bath container, as well as hand sanitizers.

Physical distancing will be observed at the pews and monitored by ushers and marshals.

No more people will be allowed inside the church when the indicated spaces are filled, Pabillo said. They may stand outside with proper physical distancing.

Pabillo suggested that appropriate TV monitors and sound systems be set up in parking areas within church compounds so that the faithful could still take part in a Mass even in their cars if the church is full.

If there are enough priests, Masses may be celebrated in, say, gymnasiums, but still observing physical distancing, he said.

Empty fonts

There may be less singing during Mass, the bishop said. He said that instead of a choir, a song leader and an instrumentalist could be assigned to lead the faithful in singing.

Touching or wiping religious images will still be discouraged, and holy water fonts should remain empty and covered.

Pabillo advised against opening small and enclosed adoration chapels. He discouraged the use of air conditioners and urged churches to maximize the use of open areas, stressing that this is a better way to ward off the virus.

The bishop also raised the need to recruit younger volunteers as collectors, lay ministers and ushers to lessen the possibility of infection among elderly servers.