Nearly three months after churches first began closing their doors to public worship services due to COVID-19 safety measures, some are finally beginning to reopen.
May 31 was the first Sunday in California in which churches were given permission to host in-person services, provided they follow safety regulations.
The reopening has been long anticipated for local churches who rely on the fellowship of their community for their faith, and whose practice of faith includes shared elements such as communion and corporate singing.
Pastor Roger Wagner of the Bayview Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Chula Vista said his church was eager to find a safe way to continue congregating. Before state recommendations for reopening had been considered, Wagner and the leaders in his church took it upon themselves to outline potential safety guidelines that might allow them to open for their congregations and sent them to local government officials.
“I sent a letter to the city council and the mayor, and I copied our state senators and representatives,” said Wagner. “Just saying we’re going along with restrictions, we’re not protesting or doing a lawsuit, but the point I wanted to make is that our leaders are competent to make decisions about safety and I wanted them to bump churches up on the list.”
Chula Vista city councilmember Jill Galvez received Wagner’s letter and was one of the first to respond.
Galvez, who said she has been actively communicating with churches in her community during this process, said the way churches have responded to the shutdown and consequential restrictions of their services has been touching.
“You’d think the way the media hypes up the divide between people of faith and people not of faith that it would have been different,” she said. “This has been a lovely part of COVID-19, just seeing the love with which people have come together. The churches care deeply about the health of their parishes and congregations. They’re very sensitive to what’s going on and how they can be part of the solution.”
Not all churches followed state-imposed restrictions, with Hilltop Tabernacle finding itself at the center of headlines after hosting services that were reportedly not socially-distanced. Three people connected with Hilltop Tabernacle have since tested positive for COVID-19.
South Bay Penecostal sued California Governor Gavin Newsom when churches were not listed in Phase 2 of the reopening, claiming religious descrimination. Currently, South Bay Penecostal is streaming its services, allowing for online donations and posting registration for attendance of Sunday services – state regulations limit the number of congregants to 100 per service or 25% of holding capacity, whichever is lower.
Although some have questioned the state’s right to impose restrictions on worship, Wagner said his church understood the circumstances.
“We may have had questions about the propriety of measures that were taken, but that [the state] had a right to limit our assemblies because they were assemblies and not because they were religious assemblies,” he said, “we didn’t have a problem with that.”
Current state regulations include social distancing, masks, cleaning and sanitizing standards and restrictions on gathering in parking lots before or after services.
Bayview, which has been a congregation since 1966, has cut their after-service fellowship, coffee time and First Sunday meal. The congregation of roughly 80 people is a “fixed community,” said Wagner, and they have stayed active during the shutdown. The church live-streams their Sunday service and midweek singing, and they host their Bible studies on video conferencing platforms – although Wagner admitted that some congregants have been unable to rise to the level of technology now needed to participate.
St. Rose of Lima parish in Chula Vista was one of the first to close for quarantine, said Galvez, noting that the Catholic church globally took quick action based on what happened in Italy.
The Catholic Diocese officially opens their mass this weekend, but some parishes have been allowed to open earlier.
