In the midst of the holiest period of the year for Christian churches, the coronavirus has forced a majority of the churches in Central and Western Maine to cancel their in-person worship services and find new ways to reach parishioners.
Rev. Fr. Daniel Greenleaf Submitted photo
One of the go-to strategies for many churches is livestreaming worship services using Facebook, YouTube, Zoom, and other websites or applications with streaming capabilities.
The Rev. Dan Greenleaf said the Prince of Peace Parish, which includes the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Holy Cross Church and Holy Family Church in Lewiston, Holy Trinity Church in Lisbon Falls, and Our Lady of the Rosary in Sabattus, “canceled everything” after Gov. Janet Mills declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
“For us, that’s a pretty serious step, because it’s Lent right now,” Greenleaf said. “We usually have a full schedule of Bible study, faith sharing, other kinds of events. All of that stuff is canceled now,” he said.
Greenleaf said he and the staff at the Prince of Peace Parish are preparing to livestream Mass to parishioners online, adding that it’s “not quite the same, but it’s a way for us to get through.”
Several of the Methodist churches in the Lewiston-Auburn area followed suit and announced the cancellation of all church services over the next two weeks, including Methodist churches in Auburn, Lewiston and Lisbon.
The Rev. Annie Baker-Streevy of Calvary United Methodist Church in Lewiston told her parishioners on Facebook that she would be using livestreaming, phone and email to stay in touch with everyone.
Streevy said that on Sunday, she hosted an online morning workshop on Facebook and urged people to practice social distancing, but also“check in on your neighbors, church members and community members.”
At the First Universalist Church of Auburn, The Rev. Jodi Cohen Hayashida said worship and church business would move online “for the next four weeks.”
She said she based her decision on recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Hayashida added that worship services will be held “online using Zoom,” a videoconferencing program similar to Skype.
Vineyard Pathway Church, which has campuses in Lewiston, Brunswick and Gray, announced over the weekend that it would cancel its March 15 worship services and instead air it online via livestream.
Senior Pastor Allen Austin said that the church would be “monitoring the situation on a week-to-week basis moving forward.”
Roger Cousineau, senior pastor of East Auburn Baptist Church, said all church services will be livestreamed online moving forward.
Greenleaf said that for him, the staff at the Prince of Peace Parish, and his parishioners, the concept of “social distancing” is the “strangest thing.”
“During times like this, our natural reaction is to go and pray together, but that’s actually the one thing we’re being told we can’t do: be together,” Greenleaf said.
Greenleaf said that in the 25 years he’s been a priest, worship services and masses were rarely canceled.
“The closest thing I can think of is the Ice Storm of 1997,” Greenleaf said. “We had to cancel Mass because we had no electricity and it was too dark. At least during that time, we could still get together, support each other and have a sense of charity. With the coronavirus, it’s the opposite.”
Greenleaf said that “right now, regardless of which church you belong to, we need to support each other and find ways to be there for each other.”
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