Temporary adjustments at places of worship to avoid spreading COVID-19

For many churches, hand-shaking plays a large role in welcoming everyone to worship services.

That's been nixed in the wake of the novel coronavirus. So has receiving holy communion directly from a priest or other religious leader.

Other places of worship in Greater Sudbury have cancelled social activities during the week.

Most have plenty of hand sanitizer within reach.

Building Closure

Glad Tidings Church has cancelled all activities in the building over the next two weeks, says lead pastor Todd Manuel. That church closure will continue until at least Mar. 28.

The church has been using livestreaming capabilities for the past few years, so Manuel expects parishioners to watch the Sunday service on the church's website during the closure.

"I'd like to think this is our way of staying ahead of the curve, if possible. The other reality is that we're saying two weeks, but who knows it could be longer," he said.

Manuel says normally the church is very interactive with a shuttle service available across the city, a children's ministry, offering that is passed around and hand-shaking.

"For us, to cancel two weeks is very painful, but we feel it's the right decision."

Catholic masses cancelled

Another extreme measure was taken on Friday by the Diocese of Sault Ste Marie, which oversees 93 Roman Catholic churches from North Bay west to Wawa and White River.

All weekday and weekend masses have been cancelled until further notice.

"It's a huge step and I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointed at not being able to celebrate mass, especially during this season of Lent" said Bishop Marcel Damphousse, who made the decision on behalf of the Diocese.

"I think we need to be responsible in regards to the common public health communications," he said referring to the statement on Friday from Ontario's chief medical officer of health recommending the immediate suspension of public gatherings of 250 people or more.

Damphousse admits that some of the parish communities within the Diocese are no where near 250.

"It's just the fact that when you're bringing people together in public forums like that, people are sitting together."

Damphouse says he is also concerned about the elderly parishioners who attend masses who may be more susceptible to infections.

"It's important to note that the churches will remain accessible for personal visits during these usual mass times. So if people want to come to church to pray the churches will be open for that."

Damphousse hopes parishioners will still continue to grow in their faith during this time without mass.

"We've been brought up with beautiful traditions in the Catholic church of devotions so now is the time to put all those in practice because if we can't go to mass there are certainly other ways we can keep Sunday holy."

Preaching about faith and fear

At least one church in Greater Sudbury is using the  COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to teach about faith during times of fear and anxiety.

Stephen Marshall is the lead pastor at All Nations Church. He says the worship team happens to be preaching a series on fear.

"I feel like as a community, as a country we can stick together and promote faith at this time and faith will always conquer any of our fears," he said.

All Nations also has technology capabilities to livestream its Sunday service on its website or its partner radio station.

Marshall says they're encouraging seniors and those with compromised immune systems to watch from home.

As for the other parishioners who come to worship, Marshall and other church officials are asking them to respect others' personal space.

"This is a very friendly church, folks love to greet one another with a handshake and sometimes even a hug, but we're going to be encouraging to respect one another's personal space, and the situation that we're in."

Friday prayers 

Late last week, the Canadian Council of Imams and the Muslim Medical Association issued a statement recommending all mosques suspend their Friday congregational prayers.

However, it stated that if centres could handle a limited number of congregants they could be deemed to be at low risk of spreading the virus, and may still keep Friday prayers going.

In an email to CBC News, a representative with Sudbury Prarthana Samaj, also known as the Hindu Temple of Greater Sudbury, says the temple has been closed since Mar 9. The congregation will not meet until further notice. Members of the temple board have agreed to take turns regularly checking on the building.

Many of the orders or recommendations for how a place of worship is to respond to COVID-19, come down from national offices or teams within a respective denomination or religion.

Those directives may change given the fluidity of the situation with the novel coronavirus.