Pampanga church finds a way for families to 'attend' Holy Week mass amid quarantine

A church in Pampanga was "packed" with devotees this Holy Week despite Luzon being under enhanced community quarantine.

But there’s no need to worry. The Holy Rosary Parish in Angeles City has only collected some family portraits via email and pasted them onto the pews for a virtual mass.

This way, their devotees could "attend"  mass without the risk of spreading the virus.

"We were thinking how to include our parishioners virtuallly para sa kanilang pagsisimba rin, at kami rin bilang mga pari, hindi namin mararamdaman na talagang walang tao sa Simbahan," priest Rev. Fr. Mark de Leon told Shai Legarde in her report for "Stand for Truth."

The parish also made their livestreams more "interactive" by putting all the family portraits together in a slideshow.

"Maganda naman daw kasi mas naramdaman nila na kahit na livestream yung misa feeling nila, nandirito sila sa loob," De Leon said.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has hampered traditional Holy Week celebrations as Luzon continues to be under enhanced community quarantine to combat the spread of the virus.

But footage of the Holy Rosary Parish’s innovative Palm Sunday mass has gone viral on social media, and it has inspiring thousands of netizens.

"At kami rin bilang pari, ako personally, nu’ng naglalakad kami ng entrance ng misa habang tinitignan ‘yung mga pictures, sabi ko sa sarili ko, sabi nila ang Simbahan, walang laman sa Holy Week’," De Leon shared. "But I beg to disagree, dahil punung-puno pa rin ang aming simbahan. Mas naging makahulugan ang tunay na sambayanan ng Diyos bilang isang pamilya."

As of Wednesday, the Philippines has 3,870 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 182 deaths, and 96 recoveries.

—Margaret Claire Layug/JCB, GMA News