Non-Catholic Church services cancelled?

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How are your church leaders handling this Coronavirus? Talking about Protestants and Orthodox Christians.

For me, Sunday Mass has been cancelled until further notice. And with the CDC coming out and requesting all events over 50 people to be cancelled for the next 8 weeks, I may not see Mass for quite sometime. This is disheartening, but I get it. We have a large elderly population in the Church and are obligated to protect them.

Catholics, if you are in a similar situation, are you still going to confession? I need to go but did not because I saw the letter from our Bishop and figured it would not be available. And even if it is, there may be a line of people and we put ourselves at risk in there. So it just feels awkward. I actually wonder if they wont start hearing confessions via Skype or something. Sounds ridiculous on the surface, but given the circumstances and potential of this virus, I don’t think it’s that far fetched.
 
Our Diocese here in Fresno, California, has just suspended all Church activities starting today, Monday, March 16 until Sunday, March 29. You should call the office and ask if Confession is still available. If not, the best thing would be just to try to schedule an appointment with Father and do Confession that way sometime in the near future. I don’t know about your parish but ours did a General Absolution today due to the suspension and, I would think, Confession is being halted at that time as well. Just such an unfathomable Penance that has come out of nowhere not being able to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ but God will turn this into something wonderful. Just have faith and be healthy.
 
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All masses are canceled in my diocese and the same is true for the Episcopal diocese. I heard from my parents that their Nazarene congregation as well as all the others in the district have canceled services.
 
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We (Neuchâtel Canton, Switzerland) have entered emergency state. Protestant churches are in lockdown too. As a Protestant pastor, the only thing I’m still allowed to do is burying the dead (that is, once my bronchitis is gone because I’m stuck at home until then).
Lenten_ashes said:
Catholics, if you are in a similar situation, are you still going to confession?
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“My” Catholic parish still has confession every Saturday and Sunday, as well as daily Adoration, but that could change now the emergency state is being implemented.
 
Public Mass is out. It’s held behind closed doors…

ETA : I know priests were going to their parishioners’ to celebrate Mass with families too, but that may well be cancelled as well.
 
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I know it’s for the safety of the faithful, but the idea of Mass being cancelled makes me sad.

It could happen in New Zealand anytime soon. I’m just hoping it won’t get to that point.

The Church was half empty on Sunday - even here, thousands of kilometers away from anywhere else, we are scared.
 
Yes it most definitely is sad. I would think that during this time, regardless of the craziness in the world, we would want to be at Mass as much as possible. We should always be worrying about health but spiritual health is a lot more important than physical health. Not much we can do for those that have had their dioceses closed aside from driving hundreds of miles to find a parish that is still having public Mass. 😨 :cry:
 
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OddBird said:
We (Neuchâtel Canton, Switzerland) have entered emergency state. Protestant churches are in lockdown too. As a Protestant pastor, the only thing I’m still allowed to do is burying the dead (that is, once my bronchitis is gone because I’m stuck at home until then).
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Lenten_ashes:
Catholics, if you are in a similar situation, are you still going to confession?
Click to expand...
“My” Catholic parish still has confession every Saturday and Sunday, as well as daily Adoration, but that could change now the emergency state is being implemented.
Click to expand...
OddBird, you mention the only thing you are allowed to do is bury the dead. In all sincerity I am asking what protocols are in place where you live that dictate what can take place in providing funeral service to grieving family and friends? Are you allowed to have public services and if so, how do the funeral homes, churches and families enable a safe environment for the attendees as well as staff? I ask this as one involved in funeral service in North America where protocols are being established that almost eliminate the usual gathering of family and friends completely.
 
The current regulations are that funerals must be limited to 20 persons in attendance, celebrant and undertakers included. But this could change as some Swiss cantons (not mine yet) are forbidding gatherings of more than 5 people.

We’re encouraged to ask families to attend the burial or pre-cremation service in as small numbers as they can, and wait for the end of the emergency measures to have a bigger memorial service. For now it’s just the way we propose to do things, but if measures are tightened we will have to impose it, limit the number of family members attending the first service to 2 or 3, and have a second service later for mostly every family. We also have to respect distancing measures, sit apart, not shake hands,…

I don’t know how it goes in funeral homes, but when meeting with bereaved families, we’re forbidden to go to their place as we used to. The pre-funeral visits have to take place in parish halls big enough to allow everybody to sit well apart.
 
Yes, this is one mechanism. However, within immediate families there are most often someone who is coming from out of the country. When they arrive where I live, they are supposed to cooperate with a 14 day self imposed quarantine before being in public, which means that for two weeks they should not be in personal contact with anyone even their own family. We are at a loss to know how to deal with persons who refuse to abide by the new dictates of the Government Medical Offices…not only for our staff but the larger community.
 
Here in my area (North Alabama) most all churches canceled services yesterday. The church I attend had a live video and audio stream of the music, prayers, and preaching available to our members. The musicians and pastor had a service with no one in the building. It must have been very surreal for them.
 
I went to Mass yesterday, but I know that there are some Baptist services nearby, that while they’re not canceled, they are encouraging people that have health problems to stay home , and watch their services online or on TV.
 
Our youngest son and his wife attend a Salvation Army Church. Their services were cancelled yesterday and likely will be for some time.
 
I was able to attend Mass yesterday but that could change soon. I also work for our parish so if everything shuts down I may not have to go to work. It would help out my kids as the schools have closed and my grandkids are home too.
 
In Brooklyn in the hasidic community everything is going on as normal. In the more modern they are closed and studying on video chat
 
My pastor cancelled the service last Sunday. Moreover, my brother cancelled the Bible study that I normally go to.
 
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