HUNTER residents must pre-register if they want to attend Christmas masses, with some services already full.
Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle Vicar General Father Andrew Doohan said churches were allowed to have one person per two square metres.
He said this was equal to 221 worshippers at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Hamilton, which usually has around 500 worshippers and is standing room only at Christmas.
"In a lot of places Christmas is a major event and so a lot of people come to that who would not normally come to any other service during the year, apart from Easter perhaps," he said.
"That was going to put us well and truly over our capacity limits under the Public Health Order, so the easiest way of managing that was to require pre-registration."
Some smaller churches have been requiring pre-registration since lockdown.
Father Doohan said people wanting to attend cathedral masses have been asked to pre-register on Eventbrite for a ticket to be scanned upon entry.
The ticket allocation has been exhausted for the cathedral's 5pm and 7pm Christmas Eve masses.
A limited numbers of tickets were still available at the time of publication to the cathedral's midnight mass and the 7.30am and 9.30am Christmas Day masses.
Pre-registration for these masses will close at midday on Christmas Eve.
The cathedral will also livestream Christmas masses for the first time, at 5pm and midnight on Christmas Eve and at 9.30am on Christmas Day.
It has been livestreaming Sunday masses since March.
Each church has their own arrangements for pre-registration, either by phone, email, online or paper booking forms.
Some said preference will be given to local and regular attendees.
A small number don't require pre-registration, but all churches must record names, contact details and time of entry for all attendees.
"The way we celebrate Christmas might change, but we still have the ability to stop and reflect and think and try and focus on those things that are truly important to everyone."
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