Places of worship find ways to keep community connected during fight against coronavirus

With the coronavirus outbreak keeping some people in Manitoba away from their places of worship, religious leaders say they're working to find other ways to keep their communities in touch with each other during a stressful time.

Many places, like Springs Church, have made the choice to cancel services and stream them online instead. Others have kept their doors open, but banned things like hand shakes or hugs.

At Winnipeg's Grand Mosque on Waverley Street and Pioneer Mosque on Hazelwood Avenue, Friday prayers have been suspended until further notice.

"This was a very difficult decision," said Idris Elbakri, president of the Manitoba Islamic Association.

For the Muslim community, the weekly prayer is considered a religious obligation, Elbakri told CBC's Weekend Morning Show host Nadia Kidwai as part of a discussion with local religious leaders about how their communities are handling COVID-19.

"It's also a place where we gather and connect. I mean, after the Friday prayers finish, people just linger and socialize and we have lunch," he said.

"We were having deliberations and discussions and we were putting in a plan to just disinfect the facility."

But because many Muslims in Winnipeg often travel internationally, and because the way they worship involves people being within inches of each other, he said the community is worried they could be vulnerable to the virus.

"We stand in rows in close proximity to each other and then we bow and kneel and we put our foreheads on the carpet," said Elbakri. "I think, given all of these things, the right thing to do, the religious thing to do, was to actually say, 'Pray at home.'"

Elbakri said seeing less attendance at mosques as the world works to slow the spread of COVID-19 has taken a toll on a community used to gathering together — but they also know not even a pandemic will be enough to truly keep them from their faith.

"It was a sad day to not hold prayers, and there have been pictures, even of Mecca, kind of being emptied out and people are very sad and nostalgic about that," he said.

"Maybe the mosque's doors closed, but God's doors will always remain open."

Precautionary measures

For Rabbi Kliel Rose's congregation at the Etz Chayim synagogue on Matheson Avenue, the province's recommended social distancing techniques were a challenge to incorporate into their Saturday service.

Still, the community wanted to make sure they were doing their part to help slow the spread of the virus in Manitoba.

"Before we read from the Torah, typically it's paraded around and people kiss it or place the prayer shawl on it and then kiss the prayer shawl, and all of that was eliminated," he said. 

"We're really taking precautionary measures and trying to ensure that we're being safe."

While following tradition is an important part of the service, Rose said, safety and health are their main concerns right now.

"Everything else is considered to be less important when there is a health crisis, and we have to keep reminding people that," he said.

Staying connected

Archbishop Albert LeGatt of the Archdiocese of St. Boniface said while one of the archdiocese's bigger churches decided to cancel its services, most have decided to come up with ways to make sure their weekly service wasn't putting anyone at risk of being exposed to COVID-19.

"We extend the hand to one another, the exchange of peace, and so have asked people to completely refrain from that," he said.

Instead, people are now being asked to bow toward each other, LeGatt said.

"[It's] still that exchange of peace, because it's so important, this sense of community," he said.

LeGatt said people are worried about the virus — which is exactly why it's important for them to stay connected through their faith.

"It's a web of families, of friendship, of acquaintances, of mutual support," he said.