Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Church has advised people to not shake hands and instead greet each other with folded hands (namaste) as a precautionary measure in the wake of spread of COVID-19 across 130 nations including India.
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The Church has stated that if anyone has had contact with a person who has been diagnosed with Coronavirus, should be asked to temporarily avoid coming to public functions where many congregate, for at least two weeks (e.g. Mass, Missions, Stations of the Cross).
To avoid multiplicity of individual Church statements in face of the global threat of the COVID – 19, the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of India have come out with a single statement-cum-advisory, addressed to all the Bishops of India for undertaking precautionary measure.
The advisory, circulated by Archbishop of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Ferrao also advises that at the first sight of cough and breathlessness, with or without fever, the concerned person should seek medical assistance. “Encourage our people not to shake hands at the sign of peace, but to greet each other with folded hands (namaste). In general, avoid handshakes,” it further states.
Similarly, Church visitors are asked to receive Holy Communion in the hand and that before distribution of Holy Communion, the Priest/Minister could purify their hands in a bowl of water/ sanitiser.
With Good Friday approaching, people are discouraged from kissing the Cross. “The blessing with a raised Cross would be adequate. Those who desire could come in a queue, make reverence with a bow and go back. Holy water stoops may be kept dry,” further reads the advisory, endorsed by Ferrao, also President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) and signed by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the President of the CBCI, a federation of the three Episcopal Bodies functioning in the country.
The temporary arrangements will be reviewed from time to time and at the moment, these norms can be followed till Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020.
The Church has also asked people to not panic as government of India has taken prompt moves. The Church has also extended its full cooperation to the civic authorities to combat the pandemic.
