NT’s empty churches put their messages of faith online for the holiest weekend of the year
SOCIAL distancing won’t crucify religious celebrations of Easter this weekend, with live streaming of services for those wishing to commemorate the calendar’s holiest of weekends
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SOCIAL distancing won’t crucify religious celebrations of Easter this weekend, with live streaming of services for those wishing to commemorate the calendar’s holiest of weekends.
NT Catholic Bishop Charles Gauci said while his St Mary’s Cathedral was closed, he was still delivering sermons online.
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“I celebrate mass in an empty cathedral, it really brings it to life how different it is to normal,” he said.
“Normally there will be singing practice, choir practice, an amazing week of people around the cathedral, but this week there is no one around.”
Easter will be no exception, with Good Friday’s stations of the cross (10am and 3pm) and Easter Sunday’s 9am services being broadcast on NITV. Bishop Gauci said it was important to make the services as basic as possible.
“We’re keeping it simple. When it’s on TV and media, the concentration of people is not the same as being physically present,” he said.
NT Anglican Reverend Greg Anderson said: “Church leaders are noticing that it is not just the regular attenders tuning in.
More than twice the usual number of attenders watched the Anglican Cathedral’s Palm Sunday service.”
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Christ Church Anglican Cathedral Darwin has recorded its Sunday services for the past two weeks and put them up on YouTube with a link on their Facebook page.
The same will happen on Good Friday and Easter at 9am, while livestreaming through Facebook was available yesterday at 7.30pm and today at 6.30pm.
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