Tobago church leaders rejoice over face-to-face services

Tobago’s religious leaders have welcomed the Government’s decision to allow churches and other places of worship to resume face-to-face services at a 50 per cent seating capacity.

Within the past few months, churches have been hosting virtual services to minister to their respective congregations as the Government sought to keep the rate of new covid19 infections down by reducing physical interaction.

But during a news conference at the Scarborough Library on October 23, the Prime Minister announced there has been a reduction in the number of new infections.

Dr Rowley said as a result, face-to-face church services, masses and services can resume but must not exceed one hour.

He also urged officiating ministers to maintain a 50 per cent capacity in their respective congregations to prevent the spread of the virus.

Rowley said churches offering services more than once a week can ask members to attend specific ones so as to keep the numbers at a minimum.

On Friday, the religious leaders told Newsday they do not have to make any special preparations for their services as protocols are still in place since the first national lockdown in March.

“We have all our signage, all our health protocols in place, face masks, sanitiser, social distancing,” said Fr Leslie Tang Kai, parish priest of St Joseph RC, Scarborough.

“We continued to do our regular cleaning with sanitisers and rubbing alcohol every weekend as normal because the church was always waiting.”

Tang Kai said parishioners have been registering online to attend mass.

He added those who missed the online registration can sign their names in a book when they arrive at the church.

Regarding physical distancing, Tang Kai said 50 per cent of St Joseph RC’s congregation will be about 70 to 80 people.

“In the earlies, we put in an extra mass to accommodate visitors from Trinidad. But now we will just have one mass on a Saturday evening and one on a Sunday morning in Scarborough.”

He added: “But now that we hardly have visitors coming these days, we just have our regular local people. So, we are going back to local and we will be able to accommodate.”

The Rev Philbert Delaney, superintendent of the Moravian Church, said even though there were no face to face services, they never stopped adhering to the covid19 protocols.

“We are aware of the protocols that were put in place before the last shut down and which is still relevant now,” he said.

Delaney said some of the church’s officials met on Tuesday in a zoom session to plan the way forward.

“One of the things we have to reinforce is that we need to revisit all of those. I know that we had never stopped using them. It is a matter of just double-checking them.”

Delaney said the church, which has ten congregations throughout Tobago, holds its services mainly on Sundays.

“The congregations are of different sizes but I can guarantee you that everything will be put in place.

Saying sanitisation is critical, Delaney said the church has even implemented a protocol where ministers do not even have to touch those who are to be baptised.

“When we baptise someone, we don’t have to touch them. If it is a child, the parent will hold the child in such a way that the child can be baptised without me holding the child in my arms as I would have done pre-covid19.

“So, we are well aware of what is to be done. It is just a matter of checking and re-connecting. It is not a case where we now have to start from scratch. We have everything in place in all ten congregations.”