Pews in Sacred Heart Cathedral are marked as a guide for parishioners to practice social distancing at Mass | Photo SHC SOCCOM
By Agnes Chai
July 10 2020
KOTA KINABALU – Head of KK Archdiocese, Archbishop John Wong released a Pastoral Letter Jul 5 to Clergy, Religious and Lay Faithful following his earlier broadcasted announcement of the reopening of churches in the archdiocese on the weekend of Jul 11-12.
The Archbishop delivered the welcomed news of the reopening of places of worship for the public allowed by the government in the face of the steady decline of daily active COVID-19 cases even though the nation is still at the recovery phase of the lockdown.
He underlined that “reopening our churches in the new normal” should not stop at adhering to the protocol and SOP. Instead it should challenge us to remove the “abnormalities in our pre-pandemic life to what is desirable to our calling as children of God and stewards of the earth”.
With the easing of the lockdown, we find a world that is eager to rush back to the pre-pandemic era to make up for the lost time. What have we learnt from the lockdown? What is God saying to the world, to us, today?
Going the extra mile for the good of others
Archbishop John Wong spelt out in no uncertain terms that returning to public Mass with the new normal is a call to “go the extra mile for the good of our fellow parishioners”.
“The new normal for Mass attendance would cause some inconvenience in terms of our interaction and movement,” he said.
He underscored “It would require extra sacrifices, patience, generosity and charity on our part.” In fact, he stressed, this is a time when we are called to live our faith in action.
He was referring to the protocol put in place to ensure that everyone would have a chance to attend Mass. The attendance is being regulated by the parishes in compliance to the SOP with restrictions imposed by the authorities to allow one third of the capacity of the church.
He hoped that their ability to comply with the MCO as good and law-abiding citizens because of their faith in God and their practice of the Church’s social teaching of caring for the common good would continue to be displayed in adhering to the protocol for the reopening of the churches.
Going beyond the recovery stage
Aside from adapting to the new normal, it would be good to prepare ourselves to look beyond the recovery phase, suggested the Archbishop.
The pandemic has brought about both positive and negative impacts to the world at large. He said, there were reports of a large drop in air pollution due to the decline in air travels, lesser road traffic, shutdown of factories, etc. The upside of any slowdown in the degradation of environment is a definite contribution to a better tomorrow.
On the other hand, acknowledged the Archbishop, the downside of the pandemic has brought about economic and social uncertainties, emotional stress, loss of employment, poverty which are becoming daily challenges and burdens to many families. Fear, affliction and death are experienced in many regions.
However, he realized that to go beyond the recovery phase, it requires critical policy responses from the national government. But as believers, what would be our faith response to the negative impacts? What can we do individually, and as faith communities, to reach out to those who are going down?
“What can we do individually and communally, for example, to protect nature and promote sustainable development that is eco-friendly?” he mused.
Towards this end, Archbishop points the encyclical letter of Pope Francis – “Laudato Si” – to the re-opened churches/parishes, and urged its serious reading and adoption in order to promote and advocate it in the life of the individual and in the communal life of the parish.
