Holy Week to see more in-person worship
As the Rev. Adam Potter prepared to lead a Friday evening Lenten devotional service at Church of the Resurrection in Brookline, he reflected on the contrast from a year earlier.
For the first time in memory, almost all churches were shuttered last year before and during Holy Week and Easter, the peak of the Christian year. Devotional services were done online. Father Potter was himself in quarantine as he recovered from a relatively mild case of COVID19, but his circumstances weren’t all that different from thosewho weren’t infected.
“That was the time everyone was in isolation,” said Father Potter, parochial vicar at St. Teresa of Kolkata Parish, which includes Resurrection and other Catholic churches in Brookline and Beechview.
As Catholics and Protestants begin Holy Week observances today on Palm Sunday, leading into Easter next Sunday, many are planning to attend in-person services of some kind.
Some churches, like those in the St. Teresa parish, resumed in-person worship with attendance limits months ago. But others have been closed since last spring, or at least since the winter surge in COVID-19 cases. With vaccinations on the rise and cases falling — at least until recently — many congregations are seeing the coming holy days as an opportune time to gather in person, even if outdoors.
“Being able to rejoice with people, feeling more comfortable, to have access to sacraments is a great joy,” said Father Potter. “That seems to be
very present to people’s minds, the pain of not being able to have Holy Week and Easter [in person last year].”
For several months after Catholic churches reopened to public Masses in June, Sue Zuk was attending outdoor parking lot Masses at Our Lady of Grace Church in Scott, part of St. Michael the Archangel Parish. In that format, parishioners remain in their cars, listening to the Mass on a local radio frequency and getting out only for Communion.
But about a month ago, she began attending indoor Masses in the church.
“I was more comfortable in the car,” Ms. Zuk said. “Now I’m fully vaccinated. So I’m comfortable” going to indoor Masses.
The difference is “wonderful,” she added. “In the car, you feel more isolated. I like feeling part of the community, and it’s nice to be closer to the altar and the priest.”
E.J. Mercer — a member of St. Teresa of Kolkata who was baptized, confirmed and married in its Church of the Resurrection — said he will havean even deeper appreciation of the Holy Week and Easter rituals — being able to experience in person the priest blessing the palms with holy water, taking part in Holy Week processions and other tactile rituals.
“The lockdown occurred right around Easter” in 2020, he said. “So we missed Palm Sunday, we missed Holy Thursday, we missed Easter” in person, he said. “It was difficult experience
doing all that on a livestream. I had a new appreciation for the physical aspect of being there.”
Catherine Abbondanza, another St. Teresa of Kolkata parishioner, is also looking forward to in-person worship for Holy Week. She missed it so much last year that to help with her devotions at home, she painted a storm window like stained glass — something she doesn’t recommend, as it was hard to clean off later — and put an image of Jesus on her front door. “As soon as they opened, I started back” at Mass, Ms. Abbondanza said. She has regularly volunteered to help sanitize the church between services.
Holy Week, marking the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, begins today for Catholic and Protestant churches. Eastern Orthodox observances will begin in four weeks.
With Palm Sunday, Christians commemorate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to the greetings of a cheering, palm-waving crowd.
Holy Week continues through Maundy Thursday, when Jesus instituted the practice of sharing Communion, and Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion. Christians then commemorate Easter, when they believe Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death.
Locally and nationally, there is growing evidence of churches and churchgoers alike opting for in-person worship.
Among regular churchgoers surveyed nationally in March, 76% are confident they can attend worship in person without catching COVID-19, up from 64% in July, according to the Pew Research Center. Forty-two percent of them said they attended worship in-person themselves in the previous month, up from 33% in July.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is expanding attendance limits to 75% from 50% of capacity in its churches, beginning on Palm Sunday. And those with speaking or singing roles in Masses can remove masks while performing those duties as long as they can maintain adequate distance from others.
In mid-February, about 40% of Presbyterian churches in the Pittsburgh Presbytery were meeting in person, said its general minister, the Rev. Sheldon Sorge. But through the season of Lent, a growing number have resumed in-person worship.
“I’m guessing we’re going to have about 90% in worship in some way” by Easter, including outdoor services, Rev. Sorge said.
Across the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, many congregations have chosen services during Lent or the upcoming Holy Week or Easter to resume in-person services, spokesman Rich Creehan said. Many had closed at least since the winter surge in COVID-19 but began reopening as cases fell.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Downtown is resuming indoor worship with Palm Sunday. St. Paul Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon plans outdoor gatherings including an upcoming Palm Sunday blessing of palms in its parking lot, followed by hymn singing. Most of that day’s service will online, and the church plans a mix of online and inperson activities through the week, with an outdoor Easter sunrise service at Old St. Luke’s Church in Scott.
“Because us getting together in person corresponds with Easter, it really is like the end of the Lenten fast,” said the Rev. Noah
Evans, rector of St. Paul Church. “There’s joy and celebration in beginning that.”
The Rev. Eric McIntosh of St. James Episcopal Church in Penn Hills said his congregation plans to have its first in-person service Sunday.
“That’s the plan,” he said, but with county COVID-19 cases beginning to rise again, that’s subject to change.
“For those who have been vaccinated, they’re excited,” Rev. McIntosh said. “For those who have not been, they’re still very apprehensive, and that’s understandable. Our mindset is not to rush to do anything that’s going to put folks’ lives in danger.”
Amplify Church resumed in-person worship last summer, but a majority of worshippers continue to participate online, said the lead pastor, Jason Howard. On Good Friday, for the first time, the church will have a service videolinked between its city and Plum campuses.
“We’re charging full-force ahead with making online a powerful experience for people,” he said. “That’s not going change regardless of what happens with coronavirus.”
At the same time, in-person attendance is growing.
“There’s something unique about how we experience God when we’re gathered in-person,” Pastor Howard said.