No midnight mass in Mumbai; Christmas and New Year services to end before 10 pm in churches

No midnight mass in Mumbai; Christmas and New Year services to end before 10 pm in churches
Image Source: Al jazeeera
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Key points:

  • Maharashtra state government imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am starting from December 22, 2020 to January 5, 2021 for Mumbai.
  • Churches of the city have said that they will wrap up all Christmas mass services before 10 pm.

For the first time, Christmas night services and New Year’s eve mass will be celebrated before 10 pm by all churches of the Christain community. This change of timings has been introduced by churches in adherencee to the night curfew imposed from December 22, 2020 to January 5, 2021 from 11 pm to 6 am by the Maharashtra state government to contain the spread of the Covid-19 infection.

Till now, Christmas services on December 24 were celebrated with a midnight mass starting post 10 pm or at 12 am every year in all churches. The same drill was followed on December 31 every year where people of the Christian community would go to church for New Year’s eve mass post 8 pm or 10 pm.

But this year, churches of the city said they will wrap up all Christmas mass services before 10 pm. Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, parish priest of St Peter’s Church, Bandra west told the free press journal, “We have scheduled two Christmas masses at 7 pm and 9 pm on December 24. The New Year mass will be earlier at 8 pm so that we can complete the services latest by 10 pm following the night curfew restrictions imposed by the state.”

On December 21, the Maharashtra state government imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am starting from December 22, 2020 to January 5, 2021 for Mumbai and all municipal corporation areas in the state in view of the mutated strain of coronavirus emerged in the United Kingdom.