The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines urged local churches to stream live on social media liturgical celebrations this Christmas.
Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, president of the bishops’ conference, urged parishes to stream live their respective Masses to accommodate those who cannot attend.
He said the Catholic Church will be adjusting its annual Christmas Masses in accordance with guidelines issued by authorities.
“During this time of the pandemic, the Church has adjusted the forms of important seasonal celebrations of the Sacraments and the liturgy,” said the prelate.
He said the bishops’ conference is recommending that for “Simbang Gabi,” Masses in the evening can start as early as 6 p.m. and for the morning the last “Aguinaldo Masses,” “Misa de Gallo,” or “Simbang Gabi” Mass can be at 6 a.m.
“The bishop of the place in consultation with the pastors of the parishes and in coordination with the [local government unit] could schedule more “Simbang Gabi” Masses in different venues which can be large enough to accommodate more people and still observe social distancing,” read the prelate’s instruction.
On Christmas Eve, “the Vigil Mass of Christmas may be celebrated from 6:00 in the evening. The last Mass of December 24 would take the liturgy of the Midnight Mass of Christmas. The dawn Mass of Christmas may also be celebrated early morning of December 25.”
In its circular, the bishops’ conference said parishes should enforce the mandatory wearing of masks, observance of social distancing and the ban on mass gathering during the nine-day dawn Masses.
The kissing or touching of the images is still prohibited, but the bishops encouraged families to bring their family image of the infant Jesus during the Christmas Masses.
“The celebration of Christmas may be different this year. We will not have the same frenzy and stressful preparations that we had before the pandemic,” said Bishop Valles.
“But we pray and help our faithful to see the heart and the essence of the season, in the simple, sober, silent but strong and loving truth of the God who comes to us in Jesus’ incarnation,” he added.
The bishops said that the original nature of “Misa de Gallo” (Spanish for “Rooster’s Mass”) was for nine straight early morning or dawn Masses.
But during the years of martial law in the 1970s, these Masses were moved to the previous evening due to curfews preventing people from going to church early in the morning. The evening Masses continued to be celebrated despite the lifting of those curfews.
