Italian--2020--March 4th--Letter--Coronavirus!
by Atlantis 6 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Slidin Fast
Google Translate to English
Christian Congregation ~ of Jehovah's Witnesses Via della Bufalotta 1281, 00138 Ronu RM Telephone 06872941 March 4, 2020
TO ALL THE BODIES OF THE ELDERLY PEOPLE IN ITALY
Subject: Updates on the coronavirus epidemic
Dear Brothers, We wish to praise you and thank you for your concern the measures suggested by the authorities and the organization to limit the spread of coronavirus. Following the further development of the situation at national level, it is now necessary to suspend all theocratic meetings for two weeks starting from the receipt of this letter. This means that all congregation meetings and circuit assemblies will be suspended for precautionary purposes until March 15, 2020. Field service meetings may be held in limited groups, unless a specific local ordinance prohibits this, even if it would be preferable to make personal appointments. It will therefore be possible to continue to carry out the preaching work by adopting all the security measures that have been previously suggested. We encourage you to promptly inform all congregation members through service group overseers. Meetings can be followed through JW Stream if registrations and links are available, otherwise everyone will be able to consider the material scheduled for the week, available on the jw.org website or in paper form. The date of March 15, 2020 may be subject to changes. For this reason, we invite you to periodically consult the jw.org screen where this letter is published. Taking such measures does not mean diminishing the importance of spiritual activities; rather it means making an effort to continue to carry them out with the prudence of the "shrewd [when) he sees the danger" (Prov. 22: 3). We are confident that Jehovah will continue to support us while "[our] strength will be to remain calm and trust" (Isa. 30: 15). We pray for you and greet you with deep brotherly affection. Your brothers and ~ -e ~ lti ~ -iç ((} / IO, p.c .: To all circuit overseers in Italy (Ente monk ricoamolto eo11 D.J> .R. Jl / 10/1986 ••• 7IJ)
-
Slidin Fast
As always, thanks Petra.
Interesting the different approach and priorities between the British and Italian branches.
-
Atlantis
Slidin Fast:
Thank you so very much Slidin! Translating is always a help to us. ( Don't forget your coffee! )
Petra!
-
Anony Mous
They seem to be basing it around local state recommendations, which is different between the EU states. It seems they continue wanting to maximize the meetings and preaching work, but it seems there is a ton of conflict in the branches about which is the best approach. This letter just screams: our committees can't agree, the older ones want to continue pushing on, we didn't cancel during WWII, and the younger ones just want to cancel everything.
I think the EU Federal Government should come with a harsh recommendation, unlike Trump, their bureaucrats aren't too keen on giving advise and leading their country, causing a huge difference in local government reactions between their states and given the open borders between states, this is going to cause a ton more casualties than necessary.
-
Anders Andersen
So.....in The Netherlands, where the government is criticized for not being as strict when fighting corona as other EU countries, preaching and meetings have been completely shut down.
Yet in Italy, where the whole country is on total lockdown and people can't leave their own village without proper forms, JW continue to hold FS meetings, and go house-to-house?
W.
T.
F.
-
MacHislopp
Hello Petra,
concerning... "the preaching activity" in Italy and the Italian Bethel letter i.e.
"Field service meetings may be held in limited groups, unless a specific local ordinance prohibits this, even if it would be preferable to make personal appointments. It will therefore be possible to continue to carry out the preaching work by adopting all the security measures that have been previously suggested."
I have received news from Italy confirming that in many regions all activity is for the moment ...cancelled/suspended.
As A. Anderson wrote correctly : " the whole country is on total lockdown and people can't leave their own village without proper forms" no reasonable JWs would violate the current rules imposed by the government .
For such violation , a fine and even ...prison is the penalty.
Greetings to all,
JC MacHislopp