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Area churches — forced to hold services and meetings online during the COVID-19 crisis — are weighing how to proceed, now that loosened restrictions allow in-person worship again.
The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth has announced in-person mass will resume May 2 – 3, but with precautions, such as required six-foot distancing between parishioners and wearing of masks or scarfs.
Many other churches are holding off, continuing to offer digital services for the time being. The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, where Father Robert Pace, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church of Fort Worth, was the county’s first confirmed case of COVID-19, has announced it won’t have in-person services until at least June. First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth said “worship for the month of May will continue online and in-person meetings and gatherings at the church currently remain suspended.”
Catholic Diocese
At the Catholic Diocese, Michael Olson, the bishop of Fort Worth, said parishes are posting schedules for mass.
“The current state of the pandemic is such that the faithful are still dispensed from the obligation to attend and to participate in Sunday Mass,” he said in a letter. “There are still legitimate threats to our health from the highly contagious COVID-19 virus; these threats are especially critical for the elderly and for people with a compromised immune system because of other pre-existing conditions.”
Olson’s letter laid out the parameters of the start of a “phased process that will require patience and generosity on our part:”
- Elderly and ill: “If you are sick or exhibiting symptoms of any illness, stay home. If you are over the age of 60, I am strongly encouraging you not to attend Mass. If your parish provides a Mass exclusively for people over the age of 60, I recommend that you attend that Mass. I am asking that people over 60 years of age not distribute Holy Communion."
- Masks: “Mindful of the obligation of charity to our neighbor, I am requiring that people in attendance at Mass wear masks or scarfs over their mouths and nose inside the church to help prevent the spread of the virus. This is not simply a recommendation. People will not be seated without wearing a mask. We must err on the side of caution and of protecting those who are most vulnerable to the dangerous effects of COVID-19…If you do not desire to wear a mask for any reason, please stay home or follow the Mass by livestreaming in your car and receive Holy Communion when it is distributed safely (with Ministers of Communion sanitizing their hands before distributing) in a designated area outside.”
- Social distancing: “The number of people who are to be in attendance at Mass will be limited to a number that can be safely present within the guidelines set by the Governor and the CDC recommendations of social distancing of a minimum of six feet between people. Couples and families may be seated together as they normally would, with six feet distance separating them from others seated in church.”
- Hand sanitizing: “Upon entering church at the designated entrance, people, wearing masks or scarf coverings over their mouth and nose, will have their hands sanitized and be escorted by an usher to a seat in the church.”
- Capacity: “Once the church building has reached capacity, people arriving cannot be admitted and will be invited to attend another Mass, or directed to a parish hall, if available, arranged for social distancing with livestreaming, or will be able to follow along in their cars by livestreaming and receive Holy Communion when offered outside in a designated area and with due regard for social distancing."
- Communion: “The procedure for distributing Holy Communion at an outside designated area will be unique to each parish. In the same sense of responsible charity, I am asking that the venerable custom of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue not be done during this period of pandemic. My reasoning for this is that the current expert opinion regarding the transmission of COVID-19 is that the virus is passed through small droplets in a person’s breath received in close contact between people such as that of the hand of a minister of the Eucharist and a communicant’s mouth.”
- Collection plates: “Collection plates will not be passed or handled among people. If possible, please do not forget to maintain your stewardship and to support your parish financially.”
- The peace: “There is to be no exchange of a handshake for the sign of peace.”
- Dismissal: “At the end of Mass, people will be dismissed from their pews in an orderly fashion mindful of social distancing. Please do not linger and gather in groups.”
- Desanitizing: “The church building will be wiped down with disinfectant in between all masses. Hymnals and other worship aids are not to be present or used during Phase I.”
- Other parish meetings: “All other parish gatherings are still currently prohibited or limited to online communications for this first phase of reopening Texas.”
- Weddings, funerals, baptisms: “These same protocols and occupancy limitations apply in the Diocese of Fort Worth to the celebration of weddings, funerals, and baptisms for the sake of the safety and good health of all involved.”
- Reassessment: “These protocols will be reassessed in two weeks as we continue to progress through each phase of reopening Texas.”
- Gifts of food: “Finally, and most importantly, thank you for the extraordinary generosity that you have displayed in donating non-perishable food items and gift cards to your local parish that they can be distributed through food banks and other outreach services in our parishes and local communities. Please, if you are able, continue to do so and to remember Catholic Charities Fort Worth as the ordinary means of delivery for care and services to the poor and those who are most in need.”
Episcopal Diocese
Bishop Scott Mayer extended the suspension of in-person worship through May: “Meanwhile, the bishop, clergy, and lay leaders are exploring a phased approach to resuming in-person worship. Because the goal is to keep worshipers as safe as possible during this health crisis, this approach will be based on the best available scientific and medical advice. In the meantime, the medical community urges us to continue to love our neighbors and ourselves by sheltering in place, maintaining physical distancing, frequent thorough hand washing, and, when making necessary trips to grocery stores, etc., wearing masks.”
First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth
Here’s the statement this week from First Presbyterian: “Now that Governor Abbott has issued a new executive order regarding the beginning phases of reopening the state more fully, the Session is engaging in important conversations and in decisions that will need to be made for the health and safety of our congregation and community as we move forward. There is much to consider. As the Session (being resourced by a work group of elders and staff leadership) does its careful and faithful work, worship for the month of May will continue online, and in-person meetings and gatherings at the church currently remain suspended.”