By Louis Rodrigues –
Belagavi: While the Covid-19 crisis continues its scare, and even though permission has been granted to reopen the places of religious worship from June 13, most of the churches in the Dioceses of Belagavi and Karwar will be opening only after June 30. The diocese of Belagavi comprises of the districts of Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Bagalkote and Chandgad taluk of Maharashtra.
This is being done by taking into consideration the current situation and the safety of the people. The required measures are being initiated to make the churches in both the dioceses ready in order to comply with the government directives for maintaining social distancing and safety.
“The Church has always given priority to well-being and safety of the people. Looking at the current situation which is rather unsafe, it was decided to postpone the reopening of the churches and restart the prayer services Dioceses of Belagavi and Karwar after June 30,” Bishop Derek Fernandes who heads both the dioceses said.
“I had issued a circular pertaining to the compliance to Covid-19 norms. Accordingly a few churches have started the liturgical services, abiding the norms and directives. However majority of the priests have stated that they need time to prepare churches to comply with the government’s directives. Moreover, we don’t want to expose the people to the Corona hostile conditions, hence a review will be done around June 30, after which all the churches would be reopened,” Bishop Derek Fernandes said clarifying the confusion prevailing in this regard.
Some other factors like possibility of reintroduction of the Lock-down has also kept the reopening of the churches on the abeyance, sources said.
Meanwhile, despite the closure of churches since the lock-down was introduced in March, the clergy has been rendering yeoman services in conducting online masses and daily prayer services catering to the spiritual need of the people. Bishop Fernandes himself has been leading the prayer services by offering online masses daily for the benefit of the Christians across both the dioceses. Thousands Christians across both the dioceses are religiously participating in these online services, Bishop Fernandes ascertained.