MRS ELIZABETH ‘Malerato Ntoane, a devoted member of St Anna women’s association within the Catholic Church was growing impatient day by day after suddenly she could not attend church services nor go to association meetings since March 2020 due to lockdown regulations aimed at curbing spread of coronavirus.
society
Aug. 27, 2020
METRO REPORTER
2 min read
Lesotho Catholic church gets back to God’s business
Head of the Catholic Church in Lesotho, Archbishop Tlali Gerald Lethotholi
But when Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro announced that although the country ‘is still in danger’ but it is at a manageable position and therefore waved some restrictions allowing, among others, the churches to hold physical services, it was like an announcement of Christmas Day for Mrs Ntoane.
It was however not until August 26 that she started to celebrate, asked her grandchildren to prepare her church service attire and wait in high mood the Sunday September 6, 2020 following the Lesotho Catholic Bishops’ Conference (LCBC) public announcement that the normal church services shall resume countrywide albeit under the strict observation of Covid-19 precautionary measures.
Church services were some of the victims of the government-imposed lockdown since March 2020 to curb the spread of coronavirus. While gathering-prone services were banned under the lockdown regulations except takeaway food supply stores, the church was the last to receive reprieve when the government started to steadily ease the regulations.
Head of the Catholic Church in Lesotho, Archbishop Tlali Gerald Lethotholi, has cautioned the priests and congregants to always observe the health precautions as stipulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the department of health.
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The WHO precautions stipulate that persons’ temperatures must be taken and therefore all congregants will go through tests, register their names and be sanitized before they enter the church or join the outside church ground service and when they leave the church service.
The congregants have been advised to observe the social distancing of at least one meter between the next person, the usual culture of shaking of hands is not allowed.
Archbishop Lerotholi has also advised the priests to hold a service for maximum one hour in their respective churches.
Expressing her further appreciation that she can now start going to church on Sundays, Mrs Ntoane says the Bible tells that whenever two or three meets with good intentions God is among them. “So, the higher the number we make as we attend the church services, the stronger the presence of God among us.”
“God can now hear our prayers and hallelujahs and therefore respond positively to eradicate this Covid-19 since we are stronger together,” she says.
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