Churches to reopen for private prayer only but not for services
And she said that drive-in church services will be allowed TO take place.
“People of all faiths have turned to prayer in their homes and use various digital platforms to stream religious services,” she said.
“The decision to open religious venues for prayer has been deemed sufficiently low risk in terms of COVID-19.”
But she urged those availing of that service to use common sense.
Church leaders had called on the Stormont Executive in recent weeks to relax the lockdown on churches to allow places of worship to reopen for private prayer and allow people to use churches for solace.
As of today, garden centres and recycling centres reopened but with some restrictions in place and social distancing of two metres to be maintained.
