Slightly more than two weeks ago, the archbishop of Singapore, William Goh, wrote a letter announcing the indefinite suspension of public Masses, both on the weekdays and weekends, effective Feb. 15, 2020, due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
It was unprecedented in modern Catholic church history in Singapore, as Mothership understands Catholics continued to attend masses during SARS in 2003.
On Feb. 24, Goh sat down for an interview with Andre Ahchak, Director of Communications at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, and spoke for the first time why the unprecedented decision was made to suspend public masses.
"Suspension of masses the last thing I would like to do"
Goh told Ahchak that "the suspension of the masses was the last thing that I would like to do".
Goh said the Covid-19 outbreak "became a real concern" for him, when he realised that the cluster in one of the Christian churches kept growing.
Goh is likely to be referring to the Grace Assembly of God Cluster with 23 confirmed cases.
Goh was concerned as to how the the Catholic church would be able to handle the situation, if a cluster develops in one of the 32 Catholic churches in Singapore.
In fact, two cases (Case 55 and 65), who were infected with Covid-19, visited a Catholic church.
They attended church services at a Catholic church, Church of Christ the King in Ang Mo Kio, though both have since recovered.
Moreover, Goh had been receiving many appeal letters who are concerned about the safety of their children or the elderly who go to church.
Difficulty in acquiring thermal scanners
Goh revealed to Ahchak what went through his mind when he made the decision.
He shared about the difficulty in securing the sufficient number of thermal scanners for the all the churches in Singapore:
"[A]s the Bishop, I have to really consider what is the best thing to do. And so I'm always in consultation with the Catholic Medical Guild and also my consultants and senators, as to how we should proceed forward. My thought was to quickly acquire the thermal scanners...
But later on, we realised that the scanners were out of stock... So without the precautionary measures in place, without the scanners and also the difficulty for the church to do contact tracing, because our parishioners are very fluid. Ours is a nomadic congregation. They go from one church to another. They don't go to the same service, the same church. And so if we want to do contact tracing, it would be extremely daunting."
More importantly, Goh made the tough call because he was concerned how the lack of precautionary measures in the Catholic churches will affect the rest of Singapore.
"[I]t would be irresponsible for us to continue the Masses without putting these precautionary measures in place. Because once a cluster is formed, not only the churches will be affected but the whole country will be affected. So it is my responsibility to exercise social responsibility towards the nation and towards our people."
Hence, when the scanners were not ready and contact tracing was difficult, Goh said that he felt that there was "no choice" but to suspend the public Masses indefinitely.
This is so that the Catholic churches can find some time to prepare themselves to put the measures in place, to deal with the situation effectively.
Goh set up task force to put safety measures in place
In the interview, Goh also revealed that he has set up a task force.
The task force, comprising of a few priests and mostly members of the Catholic Medical Guild (doctors and healthcare professionals), will look at how the Catholic churches can put the measures in place, such as acquiring the thermal scanners, using QR code to manage contact tracing, and acquiring masks.
The task force also briefed the Catholic priests "in three batches" on Feb.23 to address their concerns and clarifications on the Covid-19 situation.
When will public masses resume?
Goh said that "it won't take too long" for public masses to resume as he does not want to suspend the masses indefinitely, and "unnecessarily".
Goh said that the most important thing is for all the churches is to ensure that the precautionary measures are in place first.
Goh added that once the measures are in place, they will resume the public masses.
This is so that the Catholic Church can give confidence to the people who come for the masses, that they have taken all measures to protect them.
When asked about when the masses will resume, Goh said that it will be "as soon as we are ready".
Goh also gave Catholics the option to continue with the online Masses, if they feel that going to church will put them at health risk.
Top photo from Catholic.sg YouTube channel.