Faith Communities Joyfully Gather, Safely, as COVID-19 Limits Ease

By Gloria Stravelli

RED BANK – Members of local faith communities will be able to join in worship this week as the state relaxes restrictions on in-person attendance at religious services.

Last year at this time, the emergence of the COVID-19 virus shut down communal worship just ahead of the Easter and Passover holidays.

“We’re grateful to be back in the building. Last year at this time we didn’t have any Holy Week services,” Rev. John Mason Lock, rector of Trinity Church on West Front Street in Red Bank, said Tuesday. “Christmas had just a drive-by blessing and the church began a virtual worship series. Being able to be together strengthens our faith.”

On March 4, 2020, the first presumptive positive COVID-19 case in the state was announced. Less than a week later, March 9, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a public health emergency in New Jersey.

For members of local congregations this meant a pause in communal worship, with none of the familiar shared rituals taking place in person. However, by June guidelines for indoor gatherings for religious purposes permitted gatherings of up to 25 people, as long as they wore face coverings and remained 6 feet apart.

According to the NJ COVID-19 Information Hub, guidelines for indoor gatherings for religious services and celebrations currently limit attendance to 50 percent of a room’s capacity. On Friday, April 2, the general outdoor gathering limit increases to 200 people; however, there is no limit for outdoor gatherings for religious activities.

Trinity Church, an Episcopal congregation, closed in March 2020 and reopened in July at 25 percent capacity, or about 60 people, Lock said. Ser vices continued, both in-person and virtually on Facebook Live.

Three members of the Trinity Church congregation died from COVID-19 and are being remembered, Lock said. “We have a banner hung with a prayer from the ’28 Book of Common Prayer: ‘God help us to be mindful of the shortness and uncertainty of human life that we may apply our hear ts unto your heavenly wisdom.’ That’s been my prayer,” he said.

At Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, observance of Passover ended just days ago and excitement is high around plans for an imminent return to the campus on Hance Avenue.

According to Rabbi Marc Kline, members of the congregation have remained connected virtually and a limited “reopening” is currently under way. He excitedly shared plans to be fully open by May.

“Congregants have maintained a strong virtual connection to each other, our clergy and our amazing livestreamed services, including Shabbat and life-cycle events,” he said. “However, we are aware of the significant interest in reopening our building.

“It’s coming up,” Kline promised. “Next holiday will be tied to Shavuot in mid-May, seven weeks after Passover. We will be together as a community, which will be great. We want to do it indoors in our sanctuary, all spread out.”

Like many faith communities, Monmouth Reform Temple’s calendar had been filled with activities including religious school, prayer groups and social gatherings, most of which continued virtually throughout the shutdown via YouTube and Facebook.

“A click on the links and MRT members can attend an at-home seder virtually led by Rabbi Kline and Cantor Gabrielle Clissold whenever you want,” the website states. “Hopefully next year we can be together in person!”

In addition, Kline produced a special video for an at-home seder.

“I wrote a special Haggadah for the virus, the isolation and for problems we’ve been facing in society,” he said. Haggadah is the text recited at the Seder.

The video was sent to every member of the congregation and mailing list, “So we could be invited into their homes to discuss when we will come back for services.”

A reentry task force was formed. Now, Kline is ready for a return to “normal.” “We’re thinking mid-May,” he said. “Training will take place April 11 to bring everybody back in person. Taking care of people, part of that is making sure everyone’s safe.”

Kline also said the process will focus on helping children understand how the responsibility of taking care of each other impacts their life. “Sometimes you can’t be with people you’re friends with,” he said.

Monmouth Reform Temple is still holding programs and events online, including a series of virtual gatherings for older people. “We’re working on a dinner party right now.”

The Roman Catholic community of St. James Church on Broad Street in Red Bank follows directives issued by the Archdiocese of Trenton for reopening protocols.

As of last June, the diocese granted permission for the resumption of public Masses and the celebration of the sacraments.

Masks were required and attendees were advised that although they might have a favorite place to sit in church, they should be seated by filling the open pews from front to back. Alternating pews were closed, social distancing was required between households and there was to be no physical contact.

A member of the office staff recalled lightheartedly this week that when the church was shut down a hybrid version of worship, so-called “parking lot Masses,” proved popular, with parishioners parking cars in the church parking lot and logging onto the church web- site to follow the celebration of Mass; communion was brought to their cars. The idea caught on.

In-person worship was possible inside the church by the time of the Feast of Corpus Christi last June 11, with a 30-percent occupancy limit and numerous restrictions aimed at avoiding physical contact. But services continue to be livestreamed.

While broadcasting Mass on television or the radio is not a new concept, one parishioner noted the benefit of having the hometown church with a familiar member of the clergy presiding.

In a Palm Sunday message published in the church bulletin, Msgr. Joseph Rosie, pastor of St. James, urged parishioners to “…celebrate not what once happened to Jesus, but what is now happening among us as a people called to conversion, gathered in faith and gifted with the Spirit of holiness.”

The liturgies of Holy Week, he writes, “are not meant to retrace or relive the last hours of Jesus’ life.”

“They celebrate God’s taking possession of our hearts at their deepest core, recreating us as a new human community, broken lifebread for the world’s life – a community rich in compassion, steadfast in hope and fearless in the search for justice and peace.”

For a full schedule of Masses and services, visit the parish website at sjredbank.org.

This article originally appeared in the April 1, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.