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From Sunday onwards, stricter rules apply in the church area for funerals, choirs and music groups. On Saturday, the Bishops’ Conference tightened the previous framework for the Catholic Church.
The rules have been adapted to the new legal requirements for the containment of the coronavirus pandemic, which come into force on Sunday, October 25.
Specifically, from Sunday onwards, no more than 100 people will be allowed to attend funerals. This upper limit does not apply to the wake, funeral mass or the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in the church. In these cases, the current church corona rules for church services must be applied, according to which, as in the past, a minimum distance of one meter must be maintained and a mouth-and-nose protection must be worn.
Minimum distance and tight mouth-nose protection
Members of choirs and music groups must always wear a mouth-and-nose protection in the rehearsal room and at the stand in the church from Sunday onwards. This must be tight-fitting – face shields or chin visors are therefore no longer permitted. Singers must keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters.
From All Saints’ Day (November 1) onwards, a further tightening will come into force: from then on, a maximum of six persons may participate in rehearsals and artistic performances and thus also in choral or instrumental music in the liturgy in closed rooms and twelve persons in the open air.
Semiprofessional and professional choirs
Semiprofessional and professional choirs are excluded from these personal limits. For them, however, there is an obligation to develop a prevention concept. If there are more than 50 persons indoors or more than 100 outdoors, a COVID-19 representative must also be appointed.
The framework regulations of the Bishops’ Conference, which apply throughout Austria and can be further tightened by the dioceses if necessary, are available in full text at: www.bischofskonferenz.at/behelfe/corona-rahmenordnung
The detailed regulations for the church music area were decided on Friday by the Auxiliary Bishop Anton Leichtfried together with the executive committee of the Church Music Commission and are available in full text at www.kirchenmusikkommission.at.
Hector Pascua, Source: religion.ORF.at/KAP. Picture: stockilyapp.com
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