As announced last Thursday, all Catholic churches in Peninsular Malaysia will suspend all weekend and weekday public masses until the end of March 2020. According to the Malay Mail, this is the first time in history where several churches in Malaysia have suspended service due to a disease outbreak.
The directive to cancel church service came after a parishioner from the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLOG) in Puchong had tested positive on 5th of March and two more church members were also tested positive on 10th of March. On Friday evening, the Prime Minister had advised all forms of gathering and events to be cancelled or postponed, while the Health Minister has advised the public to avoid public gatherings exceeding 50 people.
For the entire month of March, Roman Catholic parishioners are urged to follow the masses on their smartphones, tablets and computers via the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur YouTube channel. The “online” church service will be broadcasted in several languages including English, Mandarin, Tamil and Bahasa Malaysia.
Although church service is suspended, it was reported that St. John Cathedral will remain open to those who want to come and pray. A church worker had said that suspending mass for a big church is good because they receive a lot of visitors and tourists, and you never know who could walk into the church.
According to the official statement released by the Catholic Bishops of Peninsular Malaysia, Catholics are exempted to fulfil their Sunday obligation and it is a temporary measure in the face of the current crisis. They will continue and review the situation to determine if the suspension period needs to be extended beyond 29th March 2020.
Apart from church service, all meetings, gatherings, sessions and fellowship events are to be cancelled and put on hold during the period. For wedding and funerals, it must be conducted privately with guests limited to immediate family members and close friends.
At the time of writing, there are more than 150,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide with 5,612 deaths reported so far. As of 10am this morning, there are 238 confirmed cases in Malaysia and there are no deaths reported due to the coronavirus.
