A Cambuslang church has revealed its capacity is set to be slashed by hundreds as part of coronavirus safety measures.
Parishes could be set for a limited reopening if the Scottish Government moves into its second phase of coming out of lockdown later this week.
That would see churches open again for funeral services, with a small capacity, and also for private visits.
St Bride’s used its Facebook page to display its new look, which would see the church limited to 78 parishioners, down from a usual seated capacity of more than 300.
Extra space has been created to let parishioners and priest Father Paul Morton move around, while reminders have been placed across the premises regarding social distancing. Father Morton told the Reformer that it would be a “challenge”, while praising the volunteers who have helped revamp the church.
He said: “It was quite difficult, but we need to be ready in the hope that we will be starting phase two from this weekend.
“We’ve spent the past week measuring and arguing about the distances involved.
“This will be a gradual reintroduction and is unchartered territory, but we cannot just go back to old ideas because things are different now.
“This will deeply affect us but we have to focus on the safety of people first.
“We have kept with the two-metre social distancing so far and will then change if that is eased.”
The church has been streaming services online through Facebook and YouTube, watched by more than 2000 people some weeks, a figure considerably higher than the attendance of regular services.
Fr Morton added: “We have also been looking ahead to the third phase and being able to have people attending a full Mass.
“There was a debate about how to sit families together and having a booking system; that’s going to be a big challenge for all of us.
“We’ve also had a surge of volunteers and a rota set up to do cleaning because that will need to happen after every service. We are still discouraging people who should be isolating, we don’t want people turning up and risking their own health.
“It has gone well in terms of getting everything done though.”
