By Agnes Chai The latest SOP released by the government allowed the Church to re-open within restrictions of not more than one third or 45 attendees was indeed a welcome news. It arrived on time for the Church to mark the beginning of Lent with the blessing and physical distribution of ashes to the faithful for Ash Wednesday Mass, albeit for a very limited number of faithful. Over a thousand parishioners have earlier registered for the Ash Wednesday Mass, scheduled to take place on Friday, February 19, in expectation of the MCO to end on Feb 18. Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish responded to the unexpected relaxed SOP for non-Muslim houses of worship by organizing four Masses for the distribution of ashes daily beginning from Ash Wednesday Feb 17 to Feb 19. Each Mass will accommodate the maximum of 45 parishioners allowed, besides temperature scan, hand sanitizing and contact tracing required by the SOP protocol.
By Catherine Wan COVID-19 may have impeded some traditional avenues of evangelism, but it has not stopped parish catechizing from advancing. At the Feb 2 Mass, exclusively organized for those serving in the Catechetical Ministry from the parishes/sub-parishes of Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC), Church of Mary Immaculate Bukit Padang, St Paul Dontozidon, St John Kopungit and Our Lady Queen of Peace Kobusak, 183 catechists/facilitators/helpers were “commissioned in the new norm” via Zoom. The zoomed Mass, which providentially fell on the Feast of Presentation of the Lord, was held in conjunction with the local observance of Catechetical Sunday originally planned for Jan 31.