Alliance Church of Prince Albert (Facebook)

By Glenn Hicks

back in the building

P.A. churches welcome partial return to service

Mar 10, 2021 | 9:00 AM

Whether it’s lonely parishioners eager to be among their fellow churchgoers or new immigrants to Canada who see places of worship as somewhere to help them integrate, the partial relaxation of COVID restrictions is being welcomed in Prince Albert.

As of March 19, the government says worship services will allow up to 30 per cent of capacity or 150 people, whichever is the lesser. All attendees including choirs/performers must be masked throughout the service and continue to practice social distancing. Only the clergy—while officiating—can remove their mask.

“We’re excited by this news,” pastor Daphne Masih with the Prince Albert Alliance Church told paNOW. “I think the biggest hit to our church community has been that we can’t see each other.”

Masih noted, while they have been able to have gatherings of up to 30 people since the most recent lockdown, families can spread themselves only so far given the social restrictions, so this is good news.

“A family will have a number of touch points: kids at school, or parents at work. It’s… difficult to also weave in someone from church.”

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Stacia Michael, the co-pastor at Gateway Covenant Church said the increase in gathering sizes is ‘fantastic’, especially because of the cancellation of Easter celebrations last year and the hasty move to online services then.

“We were still learning how to do all that stuff online at that time, so it’ll be great to be back in the building,” Michael said. She added the return of physical services will be a real benefit for many of their community who are recent immigrants speaking a foreign language and who have found online worship challenging.

“When you remove the people presence, it becomes even more of a barrier for them. Having them back in the building is going to be a huge, huge thing,” she said.

An Easter ‘to remember’

Bishop Albert Thévenot with the Roman Catholic diocese said he had been anxious for some time now to hear word of changes from government on gathering sizes and said they will now be able to “pass the big celebration of Easter with more people and great joy.

“It’s nice to watch [services] on TV and other platforms, but to be there in person is really something special. To be together with other people is the big thing,” Thévenot said.

He promised to make Easter “a celebration to remember” and said they will be asking their community to pre-register so they can accommodate as many as they are allowed across various services.

Meanwhile, another local church did not think the government had gone far enough.

“Let’s go all the way here, as soon as we can,” David Webster, the senior pastor with the P.A. Baptist Church said. “This is a great step in the right direction. It’s going to be a big relief for our church and I send my heartfelt appreciation to everyone involved in the process, but we need to go further.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @princealbertnow