Pews still fill despite virus
Not all parishioners follow distancing rule
An usher dipped a wafer into the sacramental wine, then placed it onto the waiting tongue of a worshipper. Dip, and repeat.
Minutes later, during the rite of peace, congregants stepped across carpeted aisles to join hands, firmly linking dozens of people across the wooden pews at the Catholic Charismatic Center in Eastwood. Across the room, a black camera trained its lens on Father John Paul Bolger on stage, livestreaming Mass to more than 170 viewers.
During most Sunday services, the church attracts more than 800 people. Although the front pews filled up, the back pews saw a slower trickle of attendees, leaving room for churchgoers to distance themselves from one another.
“It’s not the first virus this church has experienced,” Bolger told congregants.
As civic leaders nationwide instituted bans on large gatherings and advised people to isolate themselves in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, Houston’s faithful chugged right along, tweaking some services to accommodate for those who wanted to stay home.
Religious institutions are turning
to Facebook Live and suspending inperson services to heed the call of public health officials for “social distancing.” More than 170 people tuned in for Mass at the Catholic Charismatic Center, nearly double the number that watched on YouTube last week.
The government may need to implement more restrictive policies to keep people from moving around and spreading the virus, said Dr. Scott Weaver, director of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston’s Institute for Human Infections & Immunity.
At a panel Saturday, Weaver and Dr. Umair Shah of Harris County Public Health said officials need better measures to reduce transmission.
More than 100 of Houston’s faith leaders had been asked Thursday to consider canceling services, said Bob Harvey, CEO and president of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Requesting congregants skip worship this weekend was a difficult call, but it needed to be done, he said. As of Sunday, there were 26 confirmed cases in Greater Houston, and three have been linked to community spread at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Social distancing would reduce the number of cases doctors would handle.
“People who don’t realize they have COVID-19 in all likelihood could be transmitting it,” Harvey said. “These large-scale gatherings are an issue.”
Some have acquiesced. It was an eerie scene Sunday morning at West Conroe Baptist Church as Senior Pastor Jay Gross preached to a room filled with more than 600 empty chairs.
Members had been asked to watch a livestream on the church’s site from home, a first for Gross. After county leaders declared an emergency last week, they canceled in-person services.
“There’s not a win,” Gross said of the choices that religious leaders face in reaction to COVID-19. “Some folks are going to be saying ‘Why aren’t we having service? Everything’s OK.’ And if we did have service, folks would be saying ‘Why are you having services?’ ”
Lakewood Church canceled its in-person services at its 16,000-person megachurch, instead broadcasting services on six platforms. The Houston Chinese Church sent out Google Slides and pre-recorded audio.
Some churches opted out of handing out wine and wafers during communion. At St. Anthony of Padua in The Woodlands, the church asked ushers to hold collection baskets at the doors, rather than pass the offering basket around the pews.
Father Thomas Rafferty, St. Anthony’s pastor, said the church had also taken steps to minimize physical contact for people who attended in-person.
“I don’t want you to ignore your neighbor, I want you to look at them and go ‘peace be with you,’ ” Rafferty said on the livestream as he dipped into a bow. “Say it with your body and say it with your eyes as well.”
And of course, there were the new greetings. The Catholic Charismatic Center’s ushers said hello to attendees by bumping elbows. Others waved across the pews, rather than ambling over for a hug and cheek kiss.
The Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston and Diocese of Beaumont granted permission to parishioners over 60, with chronic health conditions and their caregivers to skip services. Those not in attendance would not need to go to confession for missing Mass, they said.
Neither has canceled Mass, although some archdioceses around the nation including New York, Boston and San Antonio have in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The advice to avoid mass gatherings did not stop everyone from attending services in person. Hundreds
more turned out in person to listen to Bolger’s sermon and remarks from Father Jorge Alvarado, the pastor of the church.
Alvarado advised churchgoers to heed the public health officials’ recommendations but not to panic.
“We have such a good and loving king, and he knows how to take care of his servants,” he said. “So just give your heart to the Lord and he will protect.”
Churchgoers echoed Alvarado’s message, eschewing 6 feet of personal space in favor of touching elbows and side hugs. The ushers slid on blue disposable gloves and lined collection baskets with clear trash bags.
Nor did the call for social distancing stop Mayor Sylvester Turner, who patronized Sunday services at the Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church on Houston’s Westside to commemorate its 155th anniversary.
Turner urged faith leaders to “be responsible” but did not ask faith leaders to cancel services.
“We cannot allow fear to take control,” he said in a speech to the church.
Tessa Somdah, 24, held her daughter Sapphire, 2, as they followed her brother and mother into the center that morning. Somdah said she was more worried about people who could pass the common cold or a stomach virus onto her daughter, rather than the new coronavirus.
Somdah’s mother is a devout Catholic who regularly attends church, though, and she wanted to follow her lead. She hadn’t heard about the center’s livestream.
“If I’d have known, I’d be watching at home,” she said. gwendolyn.wu@chron.com twitter.com/gwendolynawu