Sto. Tomas de Villanueva parish, Poblacion Pardo on September 6, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Councilor Philip Zafra
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Archdiocese of Cebu has ordered the extension of the liturgical health protocols until the end of August 2021 in parishes in Cebu City.
This was the Catholic Church’s response to the request of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) considering that the cases of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has risen considerably here.
Furthermore, the order came right before the pronouncement that at 36 cases of the Delta Variant has been recorded in Cebu in the past month.
Archbishop Jose Palma released a circular informing all Cebu City parishes to limit services to churches in the parish that can accomodate bigger numer of people so that social distancing may be implemented.
Sitio-based chapels will not be allowed to hold religious gatherings or liturgical services to prevent people from converging in these smaller spaces.
Earlier this month, the Archdiocese has already sent out detailed instruction to the parishes with the conduct of liturgical services, and Palma said that all protocols set forth here will be implemented until the end of August 2021.
“All parameters, in the conduct of our liturgical celebrations as mentioned in the 6th July Circular, are still in effect and are to be strictly observed,” said the prelate.
Furthermore, the Church has agreed to limit the number of people attending burials in Catholic cemeteries, still as requested by the Cebu City government.
“Aside from the one-month extension in the implementation of our liturgical health protocols, which will then be until August 2021, the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center has also informed us that only 10 persons are allowed entry in cemeteries, within Cebu City, during funerals,” said the Archdiocese in a text message to reporters.
As for parishes within Mandaue City and Lapu-lapu City, which are expected to be raised to a Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) starting August 1, 2021, the Archdiocese said they will follow the LGU guidelines.
The parishes belonging to the rest of Cebu Province will follow the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) guidelines.
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