![]() The coronavirus has seriously affected the poor. (photo: Michael Tewelde/AFP via Getty Images) Ministry of Health workers measure the temperature of a girl during a door-to-door screening to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Addis Ababa. Many of these volunteers are youth who are of different ethnic and religious groups. People of different faith communities, too, are praying together, and they are working hand in hand to combat COVID-19, mobilizing financial and humanitarian support to support poor families. We are grateful to CNEWA, which helped us to cover some of related costs for transmission. Since the Catholic Church in Ethiopia does not have its own television station, using whatever media is available has become very instrumental to reach our Catholic faithful. Priests and sisters have collaborated in organizing prayer services from different convents and parishes. It helps them to trust in God and regain their hope by listening to the word of God and uplifting homilies broadcast publicly.Īll forms of social and traditional media are used to reach our communities. This has created a very important means to reach our faithful. The government, together with the media, agreed to provide television air time for religious services for all religious denominations. Once the government declared a state of emergency, leaders of all religious confessions declared a month-long period of prayer, so that the faithful could cry to God for the eradication of COVID-19. Abba Teshome Fikre Woldetensae and priests pray at Holy Savior Church.Faithful gather to celebrate the parish feast of Holy Savior Church.Bells continue to ring to remind the faithful of the main prayerful moments of the day: morning, midday and evening prayer. Once the decision was made to close churches, priests continued to offer daily Mass on behalf of the community. ![]() After practicing social distancing principles in churches for two weeks, it was decided that the churches should be completely closed in consultation with all religious confessions and the government. Priests, religious men and women and other pastoral ministers are engaged in intensive prayer and spiritual guidance for the faithful. But this has been difficult, since many families need to bring bread home every day. Also, we have been advising people to stay at home to be safe. Personally, I found it difficult to explain to our people why we had to take such precautions in response to COVID-19. ![]() Some changes made to the liturgical norms were a shock for many Catholics. In the first two weeks, religious functions were not suspended, but other protocols - such as social distancing and the washing of hands upon entering churches - were applied strictly. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia issued guidelines to be implemented in all institutions and parishes. The first action taken by the Catholic Church after the coronavirus arrived in Ethiopia was to immediately close the schools. No door can be closed to our reaching God and to God reaching us. It invites us to a make faith-filled effort to believe that in God we live and move and have our being. The closure of the churches for the public may be God’s way of asking us to return to our roots, to the very meaning of what it means to be church. Celebrating Mass in an empty church and listening to peoples’ fear and anxiety all make me cry.” People feel the importance of prayer and they are crying to God. In Ethiopia many people do not have access to electricity and the internet, so it is difficult to livestream religious services. Priests celebrate the Holy Eucharist, but in empty parish churches. People are hungry for Christ present in the elements of bread and wine. Churches are closed and priests and faithful are detached, with Catholics and Orthodox Christians bereft of the sacraments. All of us are feeling confused, discouraged and indeed frightened by the coronavirus and by the attempts to prevent its transmission. ![]() Under lockdown, people remain in their houses, and their spiritual, social and economic lives have been seriously affected. The coronavirus pandemic has caused panic. There is so much pain and confusion around the world. ![]()
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