Our archbishop’s guidelines: 25 people total maximum, everyone gives contact information in advance.
What I noticed:
Wow, it was good to be back. The church was decorated just as beautifully as if it were any other Pentecost Sunday.
Seating was every third pew, one person or family group per pew. There was no one within about a 25 foot radius of the person leading the singing, because she was not wearing a mask.
Everybody sang, but with masks on and not very loudly (because I think we all realized we were being live-streamed to those who couldn’t attend in person and we didn’t want to ruin the experience of hearing the person leading the singing).
It is nice when everyone comes in early and sits quietly before Mass starts.
The sign of peace was silent and by eye contact. I liked this! A smile is as much in the eyes as in anything a mask covers. It was almost more intimate than shaking hands with someone who is already looking for the next person they’re going to shake hands with even as you exchange handshakes and a verbal greeting.
People lined up on marks set 6 feet or so apart, just like at the grocery store. People received Holy Communion in the hand, stepped aside 8-10 feet, unfastened their mask, received Holy Communion, and put their masks back in place. There isn’t any concern with some who-knows-who coming in and not consuming the host, because it was 25 people including the priest and everybody was known.
The priest was continually speaking both to those physically present and those watching the live feed, so there was an awareness of a bigger assembly than there was physically in the church.
Communion distributed as usual, the only difference being the priest disinfecting his fingers with 90% alcohol after every fourth person (the Communion rail only held four people, usually eight). As this was an EF Mass, Communion was on the tongue only.
70% actually works better than 90%, whether it is ethyl or isopropyl alcohol.
We used 95% ethyl alcohol (aka Everclear) and made a roughly 70% solution by starting with 3 parts 95% ethanol and diluting by adding water to achieve a
total volume of 4 parts. (Example: put a carefully-measured 3/4 cup 95% alcohol in a measuring cup and add water to the 1 cup line.)
It is very important to not go below 60% alcohol; that would be a starting amount of under 2/3 of a cup. Still, even when used carefully, kitchen utensils tend to be accurate +/- 5% or so.
Luckily (or I should say, providentially), the church was able to get enough commercially-prepared hand sanitizer and somehow found hands-free dispenser unit for people to use coming and going. The ethyl alcohol is used to wipe down the wooden pews, in the hopes that it is the least-damaging substance that actually kills the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Between the distancing (in a church with very high ceilings that probably holds 600) and everyone wearing masks, I felt as if we would have been safe even from viruses that transmit more easily than SARS-CoV-2 does.
