HYDERABAD: With the State government lifting lockdown restrictions, churches opened to Christians for mass services on Sunday.Churches, which have been closed much before the statewide lockdown, rang morning bells on Sunday. However, there was a certain fear among devout Christians as only a few of them attended prayers as some of the churches only recorded 30 per cent of their strength.
Many catholic churches reopened including Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Khairatabad, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Abids, and St. Theresa Church, Sanathnagar. Govindu Arogya Swamy, parish priest at Shrine of Our Lady of Health, said that the church has extended five masses so that the devout Christians would not rush to attend prayers. “We have given 15 minutes of time from one mass to another for sanitising the church and surfaces. We also made it mandatory to wear masks to enter churches,” he said.In the last two months, several churches have offered online masses and are continuing the same.