Rev. Trevor Malyon stands alone at St. Paul's Anglican Church in North Battleford Wednesday, surrounded by empty pews. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

A new reality

Families prepare for online Easter celebrations in times of COVID-19 reality

Apr 1, 2020 | 3:42 PM

Families in the Battlefords and Meadow Lake will need to start planning to celebrate Easter at home alone with their family, or on their own, instead of heading to church this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

With Easter Sunday scheduled for just two weeks away on April 12, it seems likely the COVID-19 pandemic precautions will continue. Those include banning all gatherings of more than 10 people, and requiring individuals keep a social distance of at least two metres away from one another.

While some area churches are able to offer services online, it won’t be the same annual Easter celebration for those who looked forward to celebrating together.

Rev. Trevor Malyon cast a solemn glance around the empty pews Wednesday at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in North Battleford while reflecting on the days ahead.

“For me it’s very different. You’re not having a face-to-face [interaction] with people, and not looking out at parishioners or greeting them at the door,” he said. “But, we are just taking the safety precautions. We visit by phone. We look at Facebook, and that’s how we stay connected to each other. We just make sure everyone is looked after that way. So I think as a church we are coping very well with things.”

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Malyon is the Pastor of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in North Battleford and St. George’s Anglican Church in Battleford.

During the COVID-19 precautions there are services without a congregation at St. Paul’s church, video recorded for people to watch at home on Facebook.

He is joined by a lay minister, a pianist, two choir members and someone to record the video — all under the 10-person-limit. There is no communion service and no public gathering in the pews.

“Only those participating are allowed in the church. We are limiting the services to people who are not immunocompromised… And, we are always two meters apart,” he said of the process.

Currently the church is sending the service liturgy by email to parishioners, with a Facebook link so they can view the services from home. Over Easter it will follow the same procedure, broadcasting the services online since there is no public gathering permitted at the church.

Rev. Doug Jeffrey, OMI, Pastor of Our Lady of Peace in Meadow Lake, Our Lady of the Smile in Waterhen Lake First Nation and St. Jude in Green Lake said it’s “very sad” to see Catholics will not be able to come together, especially for the Easter celebration.

At the Diocese of Prince Albert, as previously announced by Bishop Albert Thévenot, all masses are cancelled until further notice. They are being live-streamed online via Facebook instead.

“I have two feelings,” Jeffrey said. “I want to protect people, so I understand completely and I will comply completely with the Sask. Health advisories. That’s on the one side, because I want people to be safe, and I also have to keep myself safe.”

At the same time, he said, “there is just a sadness that we won’t be able to celebrate together these great liturgies of our faith. It’s going to be really hard not to celebrate Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday – the Mass of the Resurrection. It will be really difficult for me.”

Choir Director Charles Baillargeon of Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church in Meota said the choir and congregation are able to stay connected mainly via social media. But an Easter under the COVID-19 restrictions will not be the same.

He said remembering the experience of spending each Sunday with the choir, and being able to go to Sunday Mass each week with others, and participate in choir practise, has a special meaning to him, and the community.

“When I look at it now I realize just how much of a part it played in our lives, and how much we miss it, and the social interaction with it all,” Baillargeon said. “We cannot wait for this COVID virus to be by, so we can get back to our normal lives. But in the meantime, it’s just basically for the safety of others that we sit back, wait and hope and pray that this will be behind us at some point.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow