Local churches pray for post-COVID renewal ahead of Easter services

Easter weekend is just around the corner which means churches across Sault Ste. Marie are observing Holy Week – the most sacred week in the Christian calendar.

COVID-19 altered the way in which church services and programming were run as lockdowns and mandates kept people from attending in-person.

Despite the setbacks and alterations, several local churches feel they are either on the right track to returning to normal or are already back to an ordinary schedule ahead of the big Easter weekend.

Diocese of Algoma Archbishop Anne Germond says she feels this is the first Easter since the pandemic where they can recognize Holy Week to their fullest abilities.

“People were still hesitant about coming back to church at this time last year,” she says. “We were still trying to keep people as distanced as possible during our services at that time.”

“As the coronavirus numbers really started to decline, I think people have more confidence in being able to come out. This is the first Easter where people will feel confident in coming back to church.”

For the eight Anglican churches recognized by the diocese in the Sault and surrounding area, Germond says there was very little congressional participation in last year’s Easter services as only the choirs were allowed to sing during COVID.

But since Thanksgiving, Germond says the familiar sounds of singing in assembly have been one of many delightful returns to their services.

“People have started coming back, and new people have started coming to our churches which is wonderful,” she says. “Our congregations are becoming much more diverse than they were before the pandemic. Online worship also helped because people were given the opportunity to check us out online.”

“To have a whole worship service together is a great gift, and we’re really thankful to our parishioners in the way they followed the mandates. Because of the care we took for one another, we’re able to come back and fully worship in-person.”

Meanwhile, Reverend Eun-Joo Park from St. Andrew’s United Church says their service attendance is back up to 60 per cent from their pre-pandemic numbers, while most of the remaining 40 per cent watch or listen in from home.

“During COVID, we upgraded our technology, so we are livestreaming on YouTube and Facebook, and we have a teleconference system hooked up for people who don’t have internet,” she says.

“It’s a convenience for some, but not for all of them. All of us are three years older now." 

That means health is forcing some to stay at home. "They really appreciate they can still be a part of a community even though they’re not in-person,” said Rev. Park.

While the in-person numbers haven’t fully recovered at St. Andrew’s, Rev. Park says they’ve resumed nearly all of the activities and services they enjoyed before the pandemic, including a neighbourhood dinner where they feed the hungry, as well as a children’s activity group called ‘United in Fun.’

“It’s picking up,” she says. “It’ll take a while, but we’re all in the same boat. It will take a while.”

Like St. Andrew’s, church goers at Bethel Bible Chapel also had to livestream Sunday services from home when COVID mandates enforced people to stay inside.

But Nicholas Sarlo, one of Bethel’s associate pastors, says in-person attendance is back to nearly 100 per cent, and notes their community has been thriving for the past year or so.

“Last year was our big comeback year,” he says. “From spring 2022 to now, I don’t know if we’ve had a huge amount of change.”

“Pretty much everyone has trickled back, and it looks normal again. We used hard chairs during the pandemic that we could clean easily, and now we’re back to our nice soft pew chairs.”

During COVID, Sarlo says they were still able to hold outdoor services and small group sessions, and they even sent Sunday school activities to kids at home.

“One of our commitments during that pandemic time was to do as much as we could to engage people,” he says. “I think we had enough feelers out there to keep people connected which allowed them to come back when they were ready while giving them a lot of places to stay connected and know that they’re loved.”

Happy to be back to their normal programming, Sarlo credits the support from his Bethel community ahead of the Easter weekend.

“We have a full calendar, and it’s really nice to have the building full,” he says. “We have a generous group of people who have helped keep the lights on, and we’re very thankful for that.”

In the city’s east-end, Father Alex Saurianthadathil from St. Jerome Parish says their numbers are nearly back to normal levels, which includes a congregation of many new faces.

“Prior to COVID, there were older ones in our congregation who were okay, but some of them have passed away,” he says. “But we’ve had an influx of international people moving into town, so there are several aspects there which is boosting our numbers.”

Most of the programming and activities have returned to regular scheduling at St. Jerome Parish, and Father Alex says the pandemic is no longer the leading reason for keeping people from attending in-person.

“For Christmas, we were expecting huge numbers, but all the snow came down so it was messed up,” he says. “We began Holy Week with more snow, so it really affected our Saturday service, but it was a full church again on Sunday which was nice.”

Archbishop Germond is also hopeful the weather will cooperate in the days to come as those attending church services look forward to joining one another in recognition of Holy Week and Easter.

“I’m hoping it’ll be a wonderful weekend,” she says. “It’s so important for us to be together. Being able to be back to in-person worship is such a gift for us this year. It means the absolute world to us.”