Milagres feast held with no devotees in church

Team Herald

PANJIM:  With the rise in COVID cases, this was the second year in a row that Mapusa’ feast of their Milagres Saibinn was held without the devotees in the church. It was watched by the faithful online.

Only the members of the parish council attended the mass.

Parish Priest Fr Deniz Fernandes had announced in a notice sent to the people last week that the public Feast Mass had been cancelled. 

On Sunday, it was the turn of the Panjim Parish Priest Fr Walter de Sa to send a notice to his parishioners of a different kind. 

Leading the way, the Immaculate Conception Church is the first church to cancel all its Masses with immediate effect.  

“Important announcement to our parishioners, Due to steep rise in COVID cases in Panjim and neighbouring parishes, our Church will remain closed for liturgical services (weekday and Sunday masses) for parishioners with effect from April 19 (Monday) until further notice. The inconvenience cause is regretted. Wear masks, stay safe and healthy. God protect us all,” said Fr Walter in his message.  

It is to be noted that the above announcement was done at all their masses on Sunday. 

Soon after there were notices about chapels in Panjim such as that of St Sebastian and Sao Tome, which have also stopped all religious services after Sunday’s service until the situation improves. 

Even Don Bosco’s Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Panjim issued a notice regarding its restricted services and cancelling evening masses during the week and Sunday. While its weekday 6.30 am mass will have limited crowd, its 7.30 am mass will be online only with no people allowed. Its Sunday 7 am mass will be online but the 9 am mass will be online with no people allowed. Thursday’s adoration will be only online with no people in the shrine. They added that mass intentions will be displayed on the screen during the online mass.

“These measures are taken for your own safety and the safety of our students who will be appearing for their examinations,” read their notice. 

The St Inez Church has decided to stop liturgical services for its parishioners in the Church from April 21, 2021.

In his message, Parish Priest Fr Albano Fernandes said, “Dear parishioners, I regret to inform you that we have taken the decision to stop liturgical services for the parishioners in the Church from Wednesday, April 21, 2021, due to drastic rise in deaths and positive COVID cases until further notice. Let us remain united in prayers and continue to follow the necessary SOPs for the safety and well being of each other. Please send this message to your respective zone. God bless you!  Be assured of my humble prayers and keep us also in your prayers.”

While the Archbishop’s house had earlier given instructions to churches to take a call based on the situation on the ground in their parish, there are lot of people from the Catholic faith who have already reverted back to attending online masses only. 

Rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Fr Patricio Fernandes at the Sunday Mass also spoke about crowd restrictions in place for the service and encouraged the faithful to attend mass online. He added that besides the masses, people will not be allowed to enter the Basilica in the day due to a central government rule regarding monuments. 

This pattern can be seen at several other churches too. Concerns too have been raised not only about the health of the faithful but also the health of the priests in view of the rising number of COVID cases and deaths.

Some churches have been asking for parishioners to give their names in advance given the limited seating that will be allowed that the masses. 

“What the Panjim church has done is the best decision and I hope other churches will follow. 11 deaths on Sunday and 17 deaths on Monday is a matter of grave concern. Who knows how and when the virus will spread and reducing the number of large gatherings can only help reduce the spread of cases,” said Brian Fernandes, a parishioner from Panjim.

“We have been attending online masses in the last few weeks, even during the Holy Week. We have senior citizens at home who have not been able to take the vaccine due to mobility issues. We don’t want to put them at risk,” added Rosy Almeida, a parishioner from Margao.