Religious Services under COVID19 restrictions

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How are the restrictions regarding COVID19 affecting your attendance at religious services?

In the Catholic Church, most have ditched the sign of peace (shaking hands so not loved by many autistics), and some places have canceled Mass. Catholics are generally obliged to go to Mass every Sunday if they can (not sick, not on a 2 week hike through the wilderness, etc.) but many bishops have lifted this even if they have not cancelled Masses.

In the beubonic plague of 1348,some priests were to scared to do last rights.

Do you see this as a possible issue now.

I am Anglican and attend St Peter's.

They will not be gathering for worship until further notice. They posted spiritual resources and encouraged people to serve their neighbours by caring for those in need and / or by donating to food charities, especially as this is Lent.

They have set up a location for food donations.

Our Anglican church just notified us that there are no services until Holy Week.

My mother-in-laws church (Pentecostal) is carrying on as normal.

Just did a check in the local paper: the new Anglican bishop delayed his investiture after arriving from Italy two weeks ago, the Diocese are continuing services, but no touching and no communion wine for the foreseeable.

Church of England Coronavirus Measures
(If you’re interested)

I don't see it as much of an issue.
1. we may just ask the younger priests in that situation as the risk to a priest in his 30s like me is much less (like if I get COVID19, I have about a 99.8% recovery rate) than to a priest in his 70s (whose recovery rate is under 95%). I'd gladly cover for an older priest given my much lower risk.
2. Also given modern science, you can go in and give the last sacraments wearing medical clothing (like what nurses and doctors do to prevent infection) to prevent getting the infection. During the plague, they really didn't know how it was passed.

My Christian friend's church is now only hosting online services. Chances are I might look at it...

I think less people might be going to church now around here, which is good since here most people who go to churches tend to be elderly and are in bigger danger because of that.

Our diocese has given a dispensation to all Catholics who choose to stay home. Our diocese also pays a local TV station to broadcast a Mass from a Church in D.C. They've been broadcasting that Mass in our local area for years. We stayed home as a family and participated via TV today.

Southern Baptist here. With Baptists, it's pretty much just up to the local church as to what they think they should do. We've always live-streamed our service, so this didn't take us by surprise at all. We told our congregation to stay home and join us on the live-stream. I'm the piano player and we're without a full-time music person at the moment. I recommended we pull a praise and worship time from a previous service and broadcast that, which they did. Our pastor lead us in a time of guided prayer and meditation and asked me to play in the background. So there wasn't anyone there but all the media people, myself, and pastoral staff. It was eerie having church in an almost-empty sanctuary with just us and the camera crew.

I'm more of the opinion just let people come to church if they want to. The trouble is that you have all these octogenarians who will show up every time the doors are open, and we'd rather not put at-risk folks at even greater risk.

I'm also a teacher. I'm sitting at my desk in an empty room while I'm writing this. I'm taking my time running the vaccuum cleaner and shuffling work off my desk. I've got supplies to order, drums to tune, and audio gear to maintain. Odd how a disease is making my job a bit easier!

I'm also having difficulties with people at my church, speaking of my job. I don't mean to brag, but this church has never had anyone quite like me. I've also been there a loooooong time now in my current capacity. What people don't understand about me is I do more and am capable of MUCH more than slapping at some keys. I have no intention of going in for the full-time worship pastor position that was recently vacated (it was resign or get terminated). But I AM knowledgeable and more than capable of rehearsing a choir. We have a temp, but he can't be there every Sunday. So the guy who subs for him is someone who's been a church member for a while. I don't deny that he is talented. But he's also 1950's talented. When it comes to how we use technology with the choir among other things, this guy is in way over his head. I tried to talk him into letting me handle choir just for the offertory. He really wasn't having it.

Normally I'm just, like, well, it's not my place to argue, not my job. What's upsetting me is that I've spent this time going to conferences, rarely miss services, only miss because I'm at a conference or am involved in another volunteer ministry at ANOTHER church (usually about 4 time a year), or doing something else that is directly church-related. My responsibilities have grown FAR beyond simply playing a piano. They grab this guy out of a bean field and he says things are going to be done HIS way? If people treated me as though they had more faith in me, it wouldn't bother me so much. But it happens that a disconnect has opened up between what people expect of me and what I actually do. I expect more out of myself and others. I've always been part of the team and had a lot of input into what happens on Sundays. At this stage I don't take orders anymore and haven't for a long time. Being mistreated with no end in sight isn't something I handle well, especially not when church people, people who call themselves Christians, are involved. I was prepared for this past Sunday to be my last, and I was preparing to walk out right before the church service if it came to that.

So these COVID-19 restrictions (so far it's not restrictions, more like recommendations) actually SAVED me from a confrontation that would have cost me my job. While it's causing death and panic elsewhere, in a crazy sense it's actually keeping me alive right now. The virus will pass with more survivors than victims, of course. My problems aren't going to go away with the virus. But it has bought me a couple more weeks at least, and for that I have to admit I'm feeling grateful!

Chuch gatherings are the worst of public gatherings when it comes to virus transmission because people are a lot more gregarious with each other. A lot more hand shaking and hugging etc than at sporting events.

Good. Maybe those people will start supporting abortion and same-sex marriage.

This really depends on the church service. If you look at a Catholic Church doing Latin Mass, people spread out and don't touch except maybe before and after, while last time I went to a sports game, there was a lot of bumping on the way in and out.

My church has suspended attendance for a few weeks, but the pastor is still going to hold services over a live-stream link through FaceBook. Now if I fall asleep during his message, he will never know.

I gotta find something to smile about...

I have heard a lot of churches are having their congregation participate virtually, with live-streaming. That is probably the safest way to go about it for now.

Well, why do you think the sports leagues are postponing their seasons?