Like almost every day now, Father Didier Gonneaud writes a homily. Priest of two churches in Dijon, the funeral has become his daily life and his main activity. “Funerals are the only celebrations allowed. With restrictions: no more than ten people, a sanitary area. And the request that the celebrations not be too long so as not to increase the risk of contamination.”
Father Gonneaud would of course like to say mass again. Its faithful claim it and its churches are large enough to accommodate believers in good sanitary conditions. But according to him, it is necessary to have a broader vision of the situation.
“Each religion has its specific constraints when it comes to gathering, specifies the religious. We will say we reopen the churches because they are large buildings and that in Christian lithurgy we can consider being two meters from each other. But we are not going to reopen the mosques because they have other constraints? You have to have a very global vision of the situation. “
Coronavirus Covid-19: should places of worship be reopened? –
Same story from Mostafa Kerkri. Its mosque in Chenôve, like all mosques in France, closed its doors to the faithful from the start of confinement. And a reopening would require unprecedented measures. In the Muslim tradition, in fact, we all pray together, side by side. “We are next to each other. If there is opening under conditions, we will space the places of the faithful by one or two places according to the criteria”, details the president of the regional council of the Muslim worship.
A message all the more asserted that here 500 people gather on special occasions, as is traditionally the case on Friday during the month of Ramadan.
It is “essential” for ecclesial life to resume “from May 11”, say the bishops of France
The conference of bishops of France (CEF) judged “essential” Friday that ecclesial life – masses, marriages, baptisms, etc. – can resume its “community character” from May 11, “at the same rate as school, social and economic life”.
The CEF, which represents around 120 bishops, met in plenary assembly by videoconference Friday, during which it discussed a “plan of deconfinement”, given to the public authorities Friday, April 24, she affirms in a communicated.
The plan, which has not been made public, is a “proposal to work with the government,” CEF told AFP. According to her, this plan combines “the resolute desire to once again allow the faithful to participate in the sacraments and a great spirit of health responsibility,” the press release said.
In this text, “the bishops of France repeat how essential it seems to them that ecclesial life (masses together, marriages, baptisms, catechesis, communions, editor’s note) can regain its fully community character at the same rate as school, social and economic life of our country from May 11 “, the date of gradual reopening of schools, they say.
Emmanuel Macron told worship officials on Tuesday that he should “be very careful” about the reopening of places of worship, saying that they would not reopen as of May 11, but rather after a period of observation that could last until June.
The bishops “are deeply aware of the impatience of the faithful to come together to celebrate and nourish their faith and share it,” says the CEF. In addition, she continues, they “hear the urgency that all those who can get more involved with the poor”.
The CEF would like its deconfinement plan, which “also draws attention to the particular situation of the sanctuaries (Lourdes, for example editor’s note)”, to be discussed at the national level but also “at the local level of the prefects and mayors” also.
On Thursday, the Archbishop of Toulouse pushed “a rant”, in his words, demanding the controlled reopening of churches from May 11 respecting the measures “social distancing and barrier gestures”.
(with AFP)
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