STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC July 1, 2020
Churches across the Pontiac are ranging in their approach to the return to in-person services, as the Quebec government allowed places of worship to re-open by extending the indoor gathering limit up to 50 people.
While this past weekend was the first time in several months residents were able to attend indoor services, the New Hope Christian Fellowship Church in Shawville has been . . .
organizing services outdoors for the last five weeks.
Pastor Stuart Marples said that they have had success with organizing these services, and if the weather continues to permit, they will stay the course.
“Our building is small enough that even though they’re saying we can have up to 50 people with distancing, we’d still only be able to fit around 35.” Marples explained. “So we’ll be staying outside for the time being.”
The services have been available for people to sit outside or in their cars. Marples said that people can choose between the two options, and for those who stay in the car, they use an FM transmitter to transmit the audio of the service to the car.
“It seems to be working quite well for a lot of people,” Marples said confidently.
Meanwhile, other churches in the Pontiac are also opting to hold off and continue with online services despite the government announcement.
Reverand Susan Lewis of the Anglican Parish of West Quebec went into detail explaining how churches in the parish are mainly governed by the bishop’s decision-making.
“The Anglican Church has a taskforce that has been working with public health officials which includes one of our own priests who is an epidemiologist and some public health researchers who are also part of our dioceses.”
Lewis said that the taskforce has come up with a four-part plan that includes a stage red, two amber stages, and a stage green. Right now the parish is in stage red, and the amber stages will depend a lot on how the next couple months play out.
But in the meantime, Lewis and those assisting her have arranged an effective solution so that people can still take part of services.
“We have Facebook Live, and we also last week started phone-in church,” Lewis said. “So people who do not have the internet can actually phone a 613 number and join in the church service.”
Since the pandemic hit, the services have all been streamed to the public from St. Paul’s in Shawville, as it provides them with the best internet connection.
Having done the phone-in part for the last several weeks, Lewis said that it’s a great idea they may consider even once things return to normal, since it gives people a chance to use a phone without charges and keeps people “going to church.”
Lewis helps to run services for multiple Anglican churches throughout the Pontiac: St. Paul’s, Holy Trinity in Radford and Holy Trinity in Danford Lake.
“Our biggest concern is keeping people safe and everybody is expecting a second wave,” Lewis said.
Currently, the Anglican parish’s goal is to return to in-person services in September.
