Some places of worship in Timmins are preparing to cautiously move forward.
The Ontario government made an announcement Monday allowing most regions outside the Toronto-Hamilton area to move into Stage 2 of reopening more businesses and services on Friday, June 12.
All places of worship are allowed to reopen at 30 per cent capacity and with proper physical distancing in place.
St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral Parish is planning to open its doors on the weekend of June 20-21 once all safety measures are put in place and the parish receives all the supplies of masks, gloves and hand sanitizers, said pastor Pat Lafleur.
He's happy churches are allowed to open again but noted it’s going to take a while to put all precautions in place.
“This weekend would be really, really nice but we don’t have the time to get that in,” he said. “We don’t even have all the supplies that we need.”
At 30 per cent capacity, the parish would let 130 people in.
With one Saturday service and two masses on Sunday, the parish has to figure out how to spread people out so that the required capacity and proper distance would be maintained, Lafleur said.
“We appreciate the fact we can do this but it’s not quick to implement. If we want to do it, we have to do it right.”
Another issue is how parishioners can safely receive the Eucharist, which is an important part of the Catholic Mass, he said.
The pastor said the parish council is going to meet this Friday to discuss future steps. The goal is to have parishioners back for the Saturday service on June 20 at 6 p.m.
The church has been producing Sunday Mass videos uploaded on YouTube every Sunday morning but Lafleur said it’s been strange not seeing parishioners during a service.
“It’s strange for me to have to preach to an empty church. It’s really odd. Because you gauge people’s reactions and you look for responses in their faces and none of that is there,” he said. “And you actually miss people.”
Sunday services will be the first ones to resume followed by weekday Masses once protocols are proven effective on the weekends, the church announced on its Facebook page.
At the Covenant United Church, the council is debating whether it should be reopening and how soon it can happen, said council’s chair Rob Galloway.
“We’re thinking about it. Because we can open doesn’t mean we’re going to run out and open right away,” he said in a phone interview.
“Because we want to know all the risks. We’re still considering all those health and safety regulations, make sure we have something in place and when we do wish to reopen.”
The church has been hosting a virtual service every Sunday since the start of the pandemic and it will keep offering online services to those churchgoers who may be worried about attending in-person.
The church can accommodate about 100 people, so at 30 per cent capacity, only 30 people would be allowed but Galloway wondered how it will be decided who gets to come in.
“Maybe, you do (a service) twice a day and you do a major cleaning between them,” he said.
People will be spread out throughout the church and extra masks will be provided. The church will have to be fully cleaned after each event and singing will be prohibited, Galloway noted.
“Because when you sing, I guess you spit,” he said. “In most churches, singing is a big part of it, so that will be different.”
If your church is reopening, let us know to be included in a list of services being offered again. Email the details, including the church name and any new COVID-19 precautions people should know about, to [email protected].
