St Paul’s Cathedral and other churches under the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India will allow only church members for the Midnight Mass on December 24 this year.

At St Paul’s Cathedral, after the Midnight Mass, visitors will be allowed to take a round and leave, a church official said.

“We are allowing only the members this year for the Midnight Mass. Usually there is a huge gathering every year including non-Christians who come to St Paul’s Cathedral to seek blessings. After the midnight mass visitors will be allowed for a while and they will have to leave after that,” said Reverend Paritosh Canning, the bishop of the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India (CNI).

The Midnight Mass at St Paul’s Cathedral starts at 11pm and goes on for one-and-a-half hours.

The bishop said visitors will be allowed for an hour after that. “We have sent the message through our priests that only members will be allowed,” he said.

“At St Paul’s Cathedral, for the Midnight Mass, we are not expecting more than 150 people and since our seating capacity is much more, we will be able to maintain proper distancing,” said Reverend Canning.

The state government has allowed a maximum of 200 people in closed spaces as a precaution against the Covid pandemic.

“On Christmas (December 25) visitors will be allowed inside St Paul’s Cathedral following the safety protocols. The other churches will also be open for visitors because people come to seek blessings,” the bishop said.

Police will also help manage the crowd so that not many people enter the premises all at once, he said.

“This year, because of the pandemic, the crowd will also be limited. Not everybody, especially the elderly or the children, are venturing out or coming to the church like they do in other years,” John Ghosh, the secretary of the Calcutta diocese of the CNI.

There are about 30 churches in the Calcutta diocese, including St Paul’s Cathedral, St Thomas’ Church Free School Street, and St James’ Church. Many among them have the Midnight Mass.

This Christmas Eve, there will be no Midnight Mass in the Roman Catholic churches under the archdiocese of Calcutta. Instead there will be an Evening Mass that should end by 9pm, Archbishop Thomas D’ Souza said in a circular issued to priests in the first week of December.

There are 65 churches under the archdiocese of Calcutta, including the Church of Christ the King in Park Circus, St Thomas’ Church in Middleton Row, and St Ignatius Church in Kidderpore.

Water supply halt today

Water supply to parts of south Calcutta, including parts of Bhowanipore, Kalighat and Gariahat will be stopped after 10am on Saturday.

The whole of Behala, parts of Kasba, Jadavpur, Tollygunge and places off NSC Bose Road, between Garia and Tollygunge, will also be affected.

The supply will resume from Sunday morning.

The water supply will be stopped to undertake maintenance and repair works.

The Tallah network, which supplies water to the whole of north Calcutta and parts of central and south Calcutta and Bidhanangar, faced a similar shutdown last month to repair a leak.