Many suburban churches plan to keep their doors shut this weekend despite an easing of restrictions on public gatherings by Gov. Eric Holcomb.
Pastors, rabbis, priests and imams said abstinence from crowds was the message they delivered to their flocks before Friday, when a statewide ban for crowd size ended at places of worship in counties outside of Marion.
“We think it is just too hard to come together the way we are accustomed to with social distancing,” said Pastor Steve White, of Plainfield Christian Church. “We hug and shake hands, sit shoulder-to-shoulder and have coffee. It wouldn’t feel right for people not to offer that.”
The church leaders said they would stick with remote services for at least another month, or longer, to ensure their safety of their congregants. White said he would probably continue remote-only service through June.
Though Holcomb's multi-phased plan to reopen the state's economy restricts gathering sizes at businesses for several more weeks, houses of worship are exempt and can host crowds of any size. Holcomb said the churches would serve as a kind of “control group" to test whether large crowds could gather safely
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"If we can manage this, it gives us a lot of confidence in some other arenas as well," Holcomb said last week. "What we're going to do is learn from these steps that we're taking."
He said he thought places of worship would be "most responsible."
Indianapolis churches have been ordered to stay closed until at least May 15 by Mayor Joe Hogsett.
Exception taken
Some clergy shrugged off suggestions that Holcomb was comparing their parishioners to participants in a scientific trial and said they were flattered that he had trust in them to show the way. This group, they said, would exercise extreme control.
“I appreciate the governor’s willingness to allow us to make wise decisions,” said Brandon Jolly, pastor at Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Franklin. “We don’t live in fear but we also have brains.”
Jolly’s church would stay closed this weekend and review the gatherings a week at a time. "I suppose we will begin to gather as soon as the data coming from the department looks steady,” he said. “A sizable portion of our parishioners are high risk, over 65 years of age.”
Besides, said Jolly, echoing the sentiments of other clergy, virtual services have been going much better than he expected. In some cases, they are drawing in new worshipers from across the country.
“The response has been amazing and we are getting better and better at it,” he said. “I started with an old camcorder I found in the basement and we’ve advanced well beyond eat.”
But other faith leaders took offense to the governor’s reference to the churches being a “control group.”
In a letter to Holcomb, Jill Olinger, the president of the Conference of the United Church of Christ in Indiana and Kentucky, said she appreciated the governor’s faith in leaders to keep its members safe but said his words had a negative ring. The coalition represents 107 churches with more than 19,000 members in the state of Indiana.
“Referring to the faith community as a “test” group also implies experimenting with us,” Olinger wrote, "and this is quite frankly, not acceptable unless there has been an explicit agreement with the faith community about participation and how success will be measured."
Catholic Churches, under the guidance of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, will open service no earlier than May 30 with some churches allowed to stay shut until Aug. 15, spokesman Greg Otolksi said, adding that the archdiocese is formulating guidelines on how the services should be conducted when the pews are filled.
“We have more than 120 churches in 39 counties of all different sizes from some that only seat 150 to 200 people at the most to churches that seat more than 1,000 people,” Otolski said in an email “The COVID-19 situation also varies quite a bit from county-to-county.”
'Risk to the common good'
In Carmel, an alliance of churches agreed not to open, stating their reasons in a letter.
“We believe in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that it is an act of faith is to remain physically apart,” the letter from the Carmel Interfaith Alliance, signed by 45 church leaders. “Large in-person gatherings pose too great a risk to the common good, and our faith traditions can, and should, withstand this disruption to our practices.”
The Rev. Shaune Shelby, of the Ebeneezer Baptist Church, in Carmel, signed on to the letter.
He said it probably wasn’t wise to open until August at the earliest, especially for black churches whose parishioners tend to be at higher risk of getting sick from the novel coronavirus than others.
“Can you imagine being the church that opens and you have an outbreak and people die from it?” said Shelby, who also has runs a church at 1901 N. Harding St. in Indianapolis “That’s happened elsewhere. It would tragic to be that church that it happens to here.”
Shelby said that while members in the Indianapolis church members are mostly blue-collar, front-line workers like bus drivers and grocery store clerks, in Carmel, he serves many of doctors and medical professionals who are also at risk of contracting the virus.
Shelby began services last year in a Carmel, holding them in a school and a hotel conference room, and was looking for a full-time home when the coronavirus hit.
Congregation Shaarey Tefilla in Carmel will stay closed until at least the end of May, said congregation President Corey Freedman.
"We are not going fast," Freedman said. "We have a membership base that that is more high-risk or susceptible to the coronavirus and we don't want to create an environment" that endangers them further.
Freedman said the church was working on a plan for how to open when it does. "We have had discussion about how they enter and other things" but nothing concrete, he said.
Congregation's Rabbi Benjamin Sendrow signed on to the Carmel Alliance letter, as did Rabbi Justin Kerber at Congregation Beth Shalom in Carmel.
“For now … Beth Shalom will continue to hold virtual services for the time being,” Kerber said in an email.
The Islamic Society of North America will keep its mosque in Plainfield shut until June, which would take the closure through the end of the holy month of Ramadan, said executive director Basharat Saleem.
“We are planning to keep the mosque closed for now because we believe that the risks associated with congregational religious services are too high,” Saleem said. "I am aware that a local volunteer group of doctors has recommended the same for other area mosques.”
At the Planfield mosque, about 100 worshipers, in close proximity, attend for Friday prayers, Salem said. The mosque, and 15 others in Indiana have been conducting virtual daily prayer services, he said.
Virtually closer
One of the oldest churches in Hamilton County, Fishers United Methodist, will also stay closed, probably until June 14.
"We don't want to irresponsibly open and exasperate a public health crisis," said Associate Pastor Ben Greenbaum, adding that it would be contrary to the church's message "if we added to sickness and death."
"This is not a case of persecution by the government trying to keep us from opening," he said. "We decided to follow the advice of the medical community."
Jeff Chaney, 45, of Fishers, who has attended Sunday services at Fisher United Methodist for four years, said he doesn't mind the virtual service, which the church provides on Facebook.
"We like it and actual look forward to it," said Chaney, whose wife and two children also attend.
He said even if the church opened his doors this weekend he wouldn't attend.
"I got nervous when the governor made his announcement and we all kind of look at each other," he said of his family. "I know we aren't ready for it."
Chaney said the church service is recorded to avoid technical glitches and members are able to chat and greet each other.
In fact, he said he has become closer with some church members since the pandemic took hold.
"I've reached out to them on Facebook and in some Zoom meetings," Chaney said, "because I thought it was important to stay in touch."
Open but with conditions
Not every church will remain closed. Some church leaders said even limited services, with social distancing, can be beneficial to worshipers who value the face-to-face camaraderie and fellowship not possible in livestreamed services.
Brandywine Community Church in Greenfield will conduct two services Sunday morning with severe limitations in its 700-seat church.
Associate Pastor Matt Wickham said parishioners will be escorted by ushers and seated every other row with families separated by four seats. They will be dismissed at the end of the service in sections through several exit doors.
Reminders to avoid touching each other will be given throughout the services, especially on the way out, Wickham said, and the services will also continue to be live streamed.
“It lifts everyone’s spirits to see faces and even though you need to be spaced apart you are still together,” Wickham said, "and there is something great about being together."
Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on Twitter and Facebook.
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