Protesting for their prayers
Religious groups defy public health orders to continue worshipping
Stefano Gesualdi is a man of deep conviction. For the last month, the Montreal pastor has been leading protests every Sunday in sub-zero temperatures to oppose the lockdown restrictions that currently limit his church’s weekly service to 10 people per room.
And as he considers allowing more church members to gather this Sunday in defiance of public health orders, he said he’s even ready to face the prospect of a different kind of conviction.
In Quebec, a person found guilty of violating the Public Health Act can face a fine of up to $6,000 for the first offence.
“It’s absolutely worth it, because the thing is when does the overreaching from the government stop?” Gesualdi said in a phone interview. “Let us choose for ourselves. And if it costs me my life? Great. Because if I die, and I know that I died obeying the Lord, it was worth it.”
Gesualdi, who believes God kept him safe from COVID-19 in 2020, argues churches are an essential service during the pandemic because they provide mental and spiritual support for members. He believes the restrictions have dragged on for too long so the church is now considering legal action and defying the public health order.
“We’re a step away from that ... We complied, now we’re protesting, if things won’t change we’re definitely going to move forward (with opening our regular service),” Gesualdi said.
Across Canada, in-person worship services have become a flashpoint in the debate between the public’s freedom and the government’s right to impose restrictions. Several religious groups have continued to hold such worship services in despite public health orders, with some being charged and fined. In rare cases, pastors have been arrested for refusing to comply, and church corporations have been charged with contempt of court.
Unlike in the U.S., there is nothing in Canada’s constitution that explicitly affirms the separation of church and state, but it does guarantee religious freedom and the ability to practise one’s faith. It has raised the question of when it’s reasonable for the government to intervene in the affairs of the church, with some religious leaders such as Gesualdi saying they’ve gone too far.
Several churches in British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba are now challenging the restrictions in court on the basis of constitutionality.
Freedom of religion is protected in charter, and the Supreme Court has affirmed that protection also extends to religious activities, ceremonies and gatherings, said Eric Adams, a law professor at the University of Alberta.
Still, he said there’s “no doubt” the government has the authority to step in and limit the ways people are gathering, when justified, in the name of public health.
If the government is going to infringe on those rights, it must prove that it has a compelling reason for doing so, but also that the infringement is proportionate, he added.
“The government has a legitimate rationale for limiting and excluding the ways people are gathering, including through religious means, because the virus doesn’t really care if it’s a hockey game or if it’s a sacred church service,” he said.
Quebec’s January lockdown on Jan. 9 prohibited all indoor gatherings, but on Jan. 21 the government amended the order to allow for 10-person gatherings in houses of worship. On Feb. 5, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled that the limit applies to each room.
In-person gatherings are particularly important for the Hasidic Jewish community because they do not use internet at home. Max Lieberman, a member of the Council of Hasidic Jews of Quebec, which challenged the initial restriction, praised the ruling, but said it was unfortunate the group had to go to court.
“We would have hoped that the government would realize that it’s a mistake and just doesn’t work. But then we’re happy in the end the courts were able to confirm this ruling,” he said.
Imam Hassan Guillet, a representative of the Muslim community in Quebec, said it’s a marginal improvement.
“There are so many restrictions in our life, so when we have this opening, I wouldn’t call it victory, but even as small as it is to have our worship places … It’s good steps in the right direction,” he said.
Gesualdi, who leads a church of about 500 people at Good News Chapel, says even with the 10-person limit per room, it’s still impossible to minister to his entire congregation. He’s been conducting his services online, but he says the lack of in-person interaction is affecting members and his ability to effectively counsel them.
“We’re social beings and we’re meant to interact with one another. There’s that on the practical level. On the spiritual level, just according to our beliefs, there’s a special presence of God when his people come together,” he said.
In Ontario, an individual who fails to comply with an order under the Reopening Ontario
Act can face a fine of
$750 to a maximum of $100,000. Corporations can be fined up to $10 million.
Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo Region, one of the churches proceeding with legal action, posted on its website that six members of its church, including three pastors, were charged on Jan. 3 for violating the Reopening Ontario Act after holding a Sunday service.
GraceLife church, just outside of Edmonton has been holding services with as many as 300 people, despite limits of 15 per cent capacity, and Alberta RCMP charged its pastor with contravening the Public Health Act.
In-person worship services can have a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19 in a community. Late last year, Chatham-Kent Public Health released a graphic which tracked the spread of COVID-19 after 21people who tested positive for the virus attended Word of Life Church in Bleinheim.
An outbreak at the church was declared and linked to 40 people testing positive in 24 households, two separate outbreaks and three hospitalizations. Ultimately, nearly 500 people had to self-isolate.
“It just can really creep really quickly and it ends up where public health just needs to isolate large numbers of people,” said Laura Zettler, an epidemiologist with Chatham-Kent Public Health.
“It’s not limited to just the people who have tested positive, it’s impacting hundreds and hundreds of other people,” she added.
In Aylmer, Ont., near London, Church of God Pastor Henry Hildebrandt has been served with a court summons, along with the church as a corporation, for allowing worshippers in the building on Jan. 31. On Feb. 7, they stuck to a drive-in service.
Hildebrandt told the Star in an email he sees no reason businesses such as Walmart should be allowed to open while churches cannot gather. He compared pastors and ministers to frontline workers.
“I am with people in their toughest moments, relationship crisis, illness, death, depression, despondency, and so much more ... I cannot stop in the greatest crisis of our lifetime,” he said.
The Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, whose president did not respond to a request for comment, is defending at least 20 individuals and organizations who are opposed to the enforcement measures, including Trinity Bible Chapel in Ontario, more than a dozen plaintiffs in B.C. and 10 in Manitoba, who will be represented at upcoming court dates in March and April.
Not all religious leaders are opposed to the restrictions. Last week, 27 came together to write a letter urging faith communities in Alberta to follow public health guidelines.
In November, Anna Greenwood-Lee, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia — Islands and Inlets, tweeted a video sermon where she castigated the Alberta government for not imposing stronger restrictions. At the time, she was working as a rector at a church in Calgary.
In the tweet, Greenwood-Lee urged Canadians to love their neighbours and said “Jesus never told us to go to church.”
In an interview, GreenwoodLee said the restrictions on physical gatherings have been difficult for her church because they can’t receive the sacrament, but it’s also provided a learning opportunity.
In absence of in-person worship, she has observed how her community has found other ways to practise their faith, such as providing food to people experiencing homelessness.
“They’re loving their neighbours … the worship is only a part of what we do and who we are as a church,” she said.
She said, in some ways, holding services online has made the church more accessible to those uncomfortable attending in person — she pointed out how a recent online sermon received 35,000 views.
Stan Fowler, professor emeritus at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Ont., said at the most basic theological level, church leaders would argue they must meet in person because the Bible tells them to.
“The challenge for that of course is that the same writers of scripture also exhort the church to submit to the governing authorities,” he said.
Fowler, himself an Evangelical Baptist, said for more conservative, Evangelical and Catholic churches like Trinity Bible there is more to their defiance than simply a strict adherence to scripture. “I think another factor for both Evangelicals and for conservative Catholics is the feeling that, in the wider contemporary Canadian culture, there are attacks on our faith,” he said.
He said it’s hypocritical for church leaders to recognize there are legitimate laws surrounding for example, fire code capacity limitations, while rejecting the restrictions imposed as part of a public health crisis.
“If you only submit (to the authorities) when you think they’ve got it right, that’s not submission.”
“Let us choose for ourselves … because if I die, and I know that I died obeying the Lord, it was worth it.”
STEFANO GESUALDI
MONTREAL PASTOR