NI churches adopt safety-first approach as some services return

Many clerics, elders and vestry members have decided to postpone church re-opening for services until late August or early September when they believe it would be a more appropriate time to allow worshippers back into the pews.

However, a small number of churches in different denominations have decided to go ahead tomorrow with a tightly controlled internal Sunday service.

While these might not be in the normal format, they would give parishioners and congregation members the opportunity to have some semblance of a traditional act of worship again.

In Portadown, a service will be held in St Mark’s Parish Church (a large town centre building) at 10.30am tomorrow morning and it is understood Sunday services will also go ahead tomorrow in Great Victoria Street and Eglington Presbyterian churches in south and north Belfast. At St Mark’s Church, Portadown parishioners held a well-attended outdoor church drive-in service last Sunday.

Cregagh Presbyterian Church in east Belfast, meanwhile, will re-open on Sunday, July 12 with two services at 10am and noon, with a congregation limited at each to 60. The Cregagh church has been open for a number of weeks to allow members to come in and pray.

Some congregations of various denominations, particularly Presbyterian and Free Presbyterian, report a large on-line response for relay services Outdoor drive-in services have also attracted large congregations.

In mid-Co Down, four Presbyterian congregations - Annahilt, Drumlough Cargycreevy and Loughaghery - have agreed that Sunday services will remain on-line until the end of August.

The delay, sources say, will give time to amend churches to fully comply with statutory health rules. Hopes are high that, by late August, regulations will have changed to again include hymn singing, adds the source.

In Roman Catholic cathedrals and chapels, parishioners returned this week in sizeable numbers for prayer sessions and masses.

Presbyterian moderator the Rev Dr David Bruce said, above all, worshippers must stay safe.

“The virus remains. Your local church leaders will have made arrangements ensuring safety of all. This might mean that a church member will find their usual pew is not available to them, or that some of the much-loved patterns of worship may be missing,” said Dr Bruce.

* The next two Sundays are traditionally dates when the Orange Order normally holds its annual commemorative services and, in normal times, several hundred of these would be held in churches across Northern Ireland. In Co Armagh, next Sunday (July 12), district commemorative services will be held outdoors in Tandragee and Markethill. This pattern of a service/no parade is expected to be followed by other lodges in districts across the Province