In a departure from centuries-old tradition, pastors and evangelists of several churches across the twin cities took to social media to deliver the word of God as part of Sunday mass what with all services being suspended till March 31 in wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
With people confined to their homes in view of the Janata Curfew, churches chose to reach out to the congregation through social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
In a statement, president of All India Catholic Union-Telangana Roydin Roach said: “As we received the directives from the Archbishop, all Catholics were instructed to stay at home and pray, even though it is Sunday, a day of obligation to attend Holy Mass.”
Churches have put up notice about the cancellation of masses on the church premises and the doors are kept closed. Even the compound gates are shut. “We are live streaming the mass on YouTube channel Sangamam Plus TV. Catholic Hub TV live streaming is available on the Catholic Hub app,” he added.
CSI All Saints Church at Trimulgherry adopted a unique strategy of pre-recording the mass minus the congregation. Fredrick R.Michael, former SCR PRO and presently steward of the church, told The Hindu that they enacted the Sunday mass by holding the service on Saturday itself. Before that, the entire church was washed and sanitised, he said, adding that the pre-recorded video service was uploaded on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday for the benefit of the members. “Due to the lockdown, we will continue with the same practice for next couple of weeks,” he said.
At the CSI St. Thomas SPG Church, Telugu Pastorate Presbyter-in-charge Rev. P. Solomon Raj shared the word of God online through Facebook. CSI Garrison Wesley Church, Lal Bazar, too went live. Zakkam Ramesh of the SPG Church said the live streaming was viewed by as many as 500 members of the church.
