Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Churches cautiously reopening
A Coatbridge priest who has broadcast masses to thousands on television and online during the coronavirus lockdown says he “cannot wait” to welcome parishioners back inside church.
Places of worship are now able to reopen for communal services from today as part of the wider phase three easing of lockdown restrictions.
Father Michael Kane of St Augustine’s Church is now preparing to celebrate the first mass since early March to be attended by parishioners this Saturday, while in Airdrie, New Wellwynd Church this week reopened for private prayer for the first time.
The 1000- capacity St Augustine’s can now accommodate only 50 worshippers at a time to observe two- metre social distancing, so mass- goers need to book in advance to attend.
As well as using hand sanitiser, they will need to provide contact details in case these should be required by contact tracers. Singing is also not permitted, and the church building will be thoroughly cleaned each day.
Father Kane said: “People are desperate to get back – we have people of advanced years who have never been away from mass in their whole lives, so to get the doors open is just fantastic.
“We w e r e quite disappointed when it looked as though communal worship was going to be delayed more than expected, and caused quite a lot of grief that pubs would be open but churches wouldn’t.”
He added: “People will have to phone to book for mass and they’ll come in, use the hand sanitiser and be directed to a seat.
“There are people who are elderly, shielding or vulnerable, and the church’s message to them is still very clear that the obligation to attend mass is dispensed during the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, parishioners at New Wellwynd in Airdrie can now return for two private prayer sessions a week, with Reverend Robbie Hamilton saying: “It’s taken three or four weeks since that was announced in phase two for us to be able to get ready.
“We had to work out how many people we could have in the building – the sanctuary usually seats 400 but it’s now down to 26 – and arrange sanitiser and PPE to make sure everyone is safe, and go through all the guidelines and risk assessments.
“Now we’re opening for two hours each Monday and Thursday, so there are 72 hours between each use of the church.
“We’ll see how that goes for a month and then start to think about how we can open fully again for worship.”