LYNNFIELD — Most places of worship are continuing to offer in-person services while strongly encouraging masking and utilizing social media and Zoom for virtual-worship options.
Ave Maria Parish, comprising Our Lady of the Assumption Church and Saint Maria Goretti Church, is following a mask mandate issued by Cardinal Seán O’Malley on Dec. 18 for public Masses, weddings and funerals, according to the parish’s website. Designated pews are reserved for people who wish to practice social distancing. Registration for Mass is not required.
A virtual weekend Mass is available on the parish’s website and YouTube channel after 4 p.m. on Saturday. In the event that someone who attended one of the Masses tests positive for COVID-19, the parish promises to make an announcement on its website.
The congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to meet in person, said Bishop Aaron Udy. The church strongly recommends members wear masks and socially distance themselves from each other.
“That is something we are trying to enforce but not force,” said Udy.
Every other pew is marked as not for seating so people can sit six feet apart from each other.
Starting Sunday, the church made its classes virtual via Zoom due to the omicron-variant surge.
Udy said that he is hoping they don’t have to go completely virtual, but if there are further spikes in COVID-19 cases, they will have to.
“We are trying to keep our finger on the pulse of it,” said Udy.
After two people who regularly participated in worship tested positive for COVID-19, the Centre Congregational Church made a decision to go virtual last Sunday, live streaming from the sanctuary.
“It went really well. We are going to stick with only virtual, live-streaming worship for the month of January and then reassess at the end of the month,” said the Rev. Nancy Rottman. “This is a new configuration for us.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, Rottman would record videos, edit them and post on YouTube.
Switching to Zoom allowed the church to bring back virtual coffee fellowship time after the worship that many members of the church missed. Rottman said that some people, especially those with social anxiety, might prefer this remote opportunity.
“All different types of people benefit from different styles of interaction,” said Rottman.
The links to virtual worship and events are sent out in the weekly news email. Anyone who would like to join the email list should call the church or message them on Facebook.
Rottman said that their decision to go virtual was motivated by the desire to protect families of the staff as well as all the people in the congregation.
“We are mindful always, even if people are having mild symptoms with it now, we’ve had people from our congregation who died from the virus so we are just sensitive to all of our families and are trying to do as best as we can,” she said.
Wakefield Lynnfield United Methodist Church currently holds services in person and also records them for its YouTube channel. The congregation is asked to wear masks and refrain from shaking hands or any other forms of personal contact.
“We try to limit the amount of movement in the sanctuary, other than people standing up and sitting down,” said the Rev. Glenn Mortimer. “We have folks taking communion in their pews.”
The church purchased an electrostatic sprayer during the pandemic to have the church disinfected anytime there are people in the building and before and after worship on Sundays. Masks and hand sanitizer are available at entrances as well.
Early in the pandemic the church did a drive-in service.
“We are blessed with a very large parking lot,” said Mortimer.
People were able to stay in their cars during the worship and Mortimer led them in prayer via a public-address (PA) system for six months.
“I’m not opposed to doing that again. If it is in the best interest of protecting people in the congregation, in the community, I’m more than willing to go back to doing that,” said Mortimer.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church continues to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines most recently issued on Nov. 15 by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, said Heather Rose, parish administrator. The guidelines include mandatory masks for everyone, physical distancing between individuals and family units, restrictions on administration of the sacrament, and extreme caution at any fellowship gathering.
St. Paul’s continues to offer both in-person and virtual Sunday services. In-person services occur at 8:30 and 10 a.m. and the 10 a.m. service is streamed live via Zoom for parishioners who are more comfortable participating at home.
