Catholic church in Belmont closes owing to covid19 cases

Two parishioners of the parish of St Francis of Assisi, Belmont have covid19, causing the church to close until further notice.

According to a Facebook post on the St Francis RC Church, Belmont page on Thursday, no Holy Week ceremonies, public masses or church activities would be held at the church, and the Parish Office is officially closed.

Fr Robert Christo, vicar of communications, told Newsday the church has already been deep cleaned and sanitised, and the church was monitoring the situation along with the Ministry of Health.

One of the positive parishioners is an active member of the community while the other has not been to church for a while. They are both in quarantine. Parish priest Fr Thomas Lawson OP, who got tested, does not have the virus.

Christo added that, about two weeks ago his parish, St Dominic's RC Church in Penal, closed due to a covid19 case.

He said a covid19 positive man attended mas with a small group of other parishioners and since then the church had been sanitised. He was not present at the mass.

The primary and secondary contacts of the man will officially be out of quarantine on Sunday. But, because of this, the St Patrick’s as well as the St Dominic's covid19 units changed the Easter schedule. The Good Friday and Holy Tuesday masses will be held virtually, while the Glorious Saturday and Easter Sunday masses would be held at the church following covid19 protocols.