At the North Shore Unitarian Church in West Vancouver, Rev. Ron Phares said his staff, volunteers and congregants have opted to stay the course with the weekly livestreamed service the church has been doing since the pandemic took hold last March.
“It doesn’t change anything. We’re not going to switch it up,” said Phares. “There’s two things we’re keeping in mind: one is the safety of the congregation and the wider community, and the other is the capacity of our volunteers and staff. Those two things mean I think we’re going to keep it steady.”
That means the church’s Easter Sunday service on April 4 will take place virtually, with congregants set to watch from their homes as Phares preaches on themes of regeneration and resurrection during the Christian holiday.
“I’m sure that if you asked all the houses of worship in town you’d probably find some variations, but my sense is there’s not enough time to make substantive changes to what you’re going to do,” said Phares.
In addition to declaring 800 new cases of COVID-19, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Thursday that indoor religious gatherings would be permitted between March 28 and May 13, in order to line up with a number of major religious holidays such as Easter and Passover.
Faith leaders have been told they can choose up to four days within that time frame to hold their services. Henry has said there is no time limit on the specific services.
While the province has stated that more details are likely forthcoming, attendance at these services, if a house of worship should choose to host one, must be capped at 50 people or 10 per cent of a building's capacity – whichever is less.
“There are a number of safety requirements and protocols that must be met by worship service organizers and attendees alike,” said Henry, meaning that PPE masks must be worn and a person organizing the worship service must pre-register all attendees and participants.
Although the North Shore Unitarian Church has decided to continue its livestream service for now, Phares said he was pleased to see the province taking action when it came to slowly loosening restrictions in the religious sector.
“It’s encouraging there’s appearing to be some flexibility or just an expansion of possibility conducted in a safe manner,” he said.
Salvation lies online, outside
News of allowing limited indoor services over the next weeks follows a provincial announcement made earlier in the week granting permission for religious institutions to offer limited outdoor services indefinitely.
Rev. Karen Urquhart of St. Christopher’s Anglican Church said yesterday’s announcement came a little too late for the church to organize an in-person service for Easter, though organizers had already been in the process of looking at hosting an outdoor service for the Easter Vigil on April 3 following the news earlier in the week.
“Because of our demographic of mostly older people, the safety concerns are still quite high,” said Urquhart.
Likewise, St. Andrew’s United Church in North Vancouver is not planning to offer an in-person service anytime in the next six weeks.
“We recorded our Palm Sunday service yesterday. It’s way too late to open the church to do something about this now,” said Rev. Judith Hardcastle. “We for sure will have summer worship outdoors."
Many North Shore churches and houses of worship, including St. Christopher’s and St. Andrew’s, have been almost completely online since the pandemic started.
Congregation Har El in West Vancouver had been hosting virtual services starting last March, limited in-person service when it was allowed during the summer, and then back to fully online by November.
Passover commences tomorrow evening (March 27) with the traditional Seder feast set to mark the beginning of the Jewish holiday.
“The major ritual of Passover is a shared [family] meal – it’s not [a] worship service,” said Rabbi Philip Gibbs, noting that while extended families aren’t permitted to gather under provincial health orders, members of the same household can easily perform the Seder rituals under their own roof. “Families are not able to travel to be in the Seder, that’s something that makes it more difficult and more lonely, but it’s still something that as a ritual has the presence to happen on that small scale.”
When it comes to hosting a Passover service at Har El this Sunday (March 28) – the first full day of Passover – Gibbs said it was the preference of the community to continue with their livestream service on that day.
However, Congregation Har El is planning to open its doors on the last day of Passover in April, while following provincial health guidelines, in order to perform a traditional memorial prayer – called the Mourner’s Kaddish – which takes place on the last day of the holiday and requires a quorum of 10 people in-person, something the congregation hasn’t been able to do for most of the pandemic.
“Having one single service means that we’re able to be completely vigilant for all of the public health measures,” said Gibbs. “We will have that be open to the community in order to provide people the chance to say Mourner’s Kaddish as that emotionally resonant prayer of memorial.”
