SASKATOON -- Pastor Jakob Palm of Holy Covenant Church in the city's North Park neighbourhood plans on opening its doors in the coming weeks for two masses on Sunday with a maximum of only 30 people.
“We will run two services instead of one. Our facilities allow for 96 people, so we now can have up to a third of that which is a maximum of 30 people,” Palm said.
Palm said this will be the new normal for the church and its members. It is a rule many places of worship are following due to the province’s strict health guidelines in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Palm said the services are needed as many people are feeling the impacts of physical distancing.
"We are discovering a lot of people are lonely. A lot of people are feeling isolated like in hospitals so we really try to do what we can as a church,” said Palm.
Beginning June 8, under the third phase of the province’s Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, places of worship can now re-open for indoor and outdoor services but must do so safely and under the province’s health guidelines. Some of the guidelines include:
- Services done virtually and remotely is encouraged.
- Registration of participants is encouraged to manage and track individuals attending
- Attendees who are medically vulnerable should not attend services in person
- Attendees, employees and volunteers should stay home if sick
- Places of worship should have an entry and exit to ensure physical distancing and should be tracked with arrow markers
- Individuals from the same household may be seated together and should remain together
- If multiple gatherings are held, time will be needed to clean and disinfect surfaces
Engineering student Mohammad Rahman is a member of the Saskatoon Islamic Centre and attends service daily. The centre is continuing with prayer with a maximum of 30 people and continuing with its online service. The centre is also encouraging elders to stay home and are asking its members to reach out to those who are feeling alone.
“Our target is to satisfy our God right? What are the rules and the regulations we have to follow? It’s for me, the people and the society and the country,” said Rahman.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in downtown Saskatoon is taking a wait-and-see approach and has decided to not open its doors right now because it has a much larger mass.
“I’m aware of some smaller churches that have been able to gather with multiple services a day which would also be an option for us but with our size, it’s a little more difficult being able to sanitize the whole sanctuary between services,” said Reverend Roberta Desandoli.
“We certainly hope to reopen as soon as we can and to do so safely and be able to gather together again. We will have face masks and cleanliness."
