After almost a nine-month hiatus, churches across the Archdiocese of Bombay celebrated the Holy Eucharist on Sunday. Last week, Cardinal Oswald Gracias had issued a circular informing the laity about the decision to start celebrating Mass from November 29 onwards. The first day turned out to be a successful one, with the authorities concerned expressing confidence regarding going ahead with it.

Some rules laid down by the Cardinal still continue to be in effect, such as not allowing those over 65 years of age as well as children below 10 in churches, and wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing inside churches at all times. Father Ashwin Castellino, assistant parish priest at St Michael's Church in Mahim, said multiple Masses were held throughout the day. "Mass was conducted zone-wise in the parish. People first had to register via WhatsApp or SMSes sent to the church mobile numbers, inform us about how many family members they plan to bring along, and then they were given a suitable time slot. We had conveyed the SOPs to the parishioners earlier itself. We have further allotted places in the church keeping in mind social distancing rules. There are no hymn books, people have to go through a powerpoint presentation instead."