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As of December 7, public religious services with increased protective measures again – weddings, first communions and confirmations will be postponed – President of the Lackner Conference of Bishops: “Faith lived together brings support and hope at this time and , therefore, it is a blessing for the whole society “
Vienna (KAP) – As of Monday, December 7, public services will be held in the Catholic Church with greater protection measures. The Austrian Episcopal Conference published a new framework on Friday that applies across the country. The most important rules are that a minimum distance of 1.5 meters must be observed during church services. The protection of the mouth and nose must be used both indoors and outdoors, it is not possible to sing in congregation and choir. Weddings and joint First Communion and Confirmation celebrations “will be postponed to a later date,” according to the regulations implementing an agreement signed this Thursday with the Ministry of Culture for the ecclesial sector. Detailed rules for the celebration of Christmas services are still being developed.
“The expected decrease in corona infections finally allows us to celebrate public services again,” said the president of the Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Franz Lackner, in an interview with Kathpress on Friday. “The common faith now brings support and hope to many people and is therefore a blessing for society as a whole.” The protective measures and restrictions that are still necessary are sensible and necessary, Lackner stressed.
“If we don’t celebrate Advent and Christmas as usual this year, eliminating many pre-Christmas habits can sometimes help us to experience the real core of this contemplative time more deeply: just like in the biblical search for a shelter. , God calls our hearts, wants to enter and widen it so that we too open our hearts to the loneliness and hardships, often hidden, of our fellow men ”, said the Archbishop of Salzburg.
“With this framework, the bishops of Austria want to ensure that even in the given conditions of the pandemic, religious services can be held safely and with dignity,” the rules set out at the outset. “The prerequisites for this include, in particular, personal responsibility and consideration.” As before, each diocesan bishop can issue stricter detailed regulations for the parishes of a region and, if necessary, for the entire diocese on the basis of this framework.
The measures adopted by the Episcopal Conference largely correspond to the regulations that were already in force before the hard shutdown on November 3. They apply until January 6, 2021 and must be specified for Christmas. “The rules for the celebration of public religious services at Christmas during the day and also on Christmas night are scheduled to be drawn up by the end of next week at the latest and then published,” the secretary general of the Episcopal Conference, Peter Schipka. Kathpress.
More: https://www.kathpress.at/goto/meldung/1963348
Framework regulation available in full text at:
www.bischofskonferenz.at/behelfe/corona-rahmenordnung
((end)) PWU / HKL
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