The Christmas Mass at The Cathedral Church Will be Limited to 309 People

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The Jakarta Cathedral Church has made some preparations for the 2020 Christmas celebration in the midst of the Corona virus pandemic (COVID-19). The Jakarta Cathedral Church will impose a rule limiting congregants who attend Christmas mass to only 20 percent of the church capacity.

“The capacity of the church for Christmas Mass services is 309 seats, which is 20 percent of the whole capacity of the Cathedral. 200 people will be in the Cathedral and 109 people will be in Plaza Maria.

After every event, the Cathedral performs disinfection in and all church spaces,” said spokesperson for the Jakarta Archdiocese and the Jakarta Cathedral Church, Susyana Suwadie, said in a statement to reporters on Thursday (24/12/2020).

She said the regulation was set by the Jakarta Archdiocese so that the implementation of Christmas 2020 would still implement health protocols. Susyana said that only those aged 18-59 are allowed to attend and had to register through the website.

“The people attending are Catholics aged 18-59 years old and in good health and registering to participate in worship through the Belarasa website provided by the Jakarta Archdiocese,” she said.

Susyana added that the Cathedral Church will carry out strict health protocols during Christmas mass services. The Cathedral Church will provide temperature measuring devices, hand washing stations, hand sanitizers, seat spacing, and others.

Following are the guidelines for the Christmas celebration of the Sufficiency of the Great Jakarta during the pandemic:

With regard to the Regulation of the Minister of Religion NO. 23 of 2020, direction from the Central and Regional COVID-19 Handling Task Force Teams, direction from the Jakarta Metro Police Chief, therefore the Catholic Church in the Jakarta Archdiocese region provides guidelines for organizing the 2020 Christmas Worship and Celebration during the Covid-19 period.

Christmas Worship & Celebration will be held in 2 ways:

1. Online or Live Streaming at the Cathedral Church and in other parishes in Jakarta Archdiocese.

2. Face to face or offline. For face-to-face worship, the following guidelines are made:
– Strictly carry out health protocols;
-The liturgical servants, priests, officers and people ensure that they are present in worship in a healthy condition
-Using a mask from home to place of worship to return home;
-By diligently washing hands and also paying attention to distance as we have been running so far;
-The maximum number of people who attend 1 worship service is 20% of the quota in the church;
-The maximum worship duration is 60 minutes (There will be modification of the Christmas liturgical tradition while maintaining the sacredness of the Christmas celebrations;
-After carrying out the worship, all the people go home immediately. Don’t make a crowd;
-The attending community must previously register in their respective parishes via the Belarasa Web;
-At this time, it is permissible to celebrate the celebration of mass worship services on Christmas Eve and Christmas with a limited quota. A maximum of only 2 face-to-face services, namely the Christmas Eve service on December 24, 2 face-to-face services, and 2 face-to-face services for Christmas on December 25. Others are done online;
-The age of the people who attend according to the provisions is 18 to 59 years by ensuring the health of each;
-Christmas decorations are made simple by means of assembling, which doesn’t take a long time and there is no need to install tents that can invite a crowd;
-People together to maintain the health of themselves and the health of other people during this pandemic by still celebrating the joy of Christmas in a unique way;
– Appealing to Catholics in the Jakarta Archdiocese and other regions in Indonesia not to travel to crowded places. Communication can still be run online.