It was a happy moment for the congregation and priest at the Saint John’s Anglican Church, as they met for service last Sunday.
While the congregation was small, Fr Brooker, the priest in charge said that it was a great moment for the 12 people who came out.
“The congregation was happy to be back in church and to be able to receive the sacrament, first time since the first Sunday in March,” he said.
Fr Brooker added “following the Protocol for us at Saint John was fairly easy, the design of the building made things easy for us, but it took a little hard work.”
The protocols call for an isolated room to be used in the church in the event of someone getting sick. To this the An¬glican priest said “We converted our ‘Lady Chapel’ into that space to accomplish the sick bay since any activity in there would not trouble the other activities in the main body. Post¬ers had to be made and set up at various points on the walls.”
He added that tape markings on the floor established the required social distancing.
The cost incurred, according to the priest, could be almost what is spent in three months for the upkeep of the church before COVID-19 came to our shores. That includes purchasing paper, ink, sanitizer, and liquid soap, receptacle with water at the main entrance, paper towels, thermometer and special record keeping.
The order of the service was also tweaked as no communal cup was shared. “The main difference was the ‘ open’ segregation of those who attended Mass and the distribution of the Sacrament in one kind only.”
The greeting and sharing of the peace normally done with handshakes, were also done by social distancing.
