Rev. Richard Siok sanitizes his hands at St. Patricks Basilica. The basilica changes holy water daily during flu season.
Church services might look a little different for Centretown residents over the next while, as ministers and priests attempt to make parishioners less susceptible to the H1N1 flu.
So far this has included discouraging handshaking for passing of the peace, emptying holy water fonts, having disposable cups for wine at communion, and strategic positioning of alcohol-based sanitizers.
Nancy Desjardins works at Centretown United Church on Bank Street and although they have no formal plan for H1N1, she says they’re practicing common sense for now.
“We have to be positive and be proactive but we don’t want to start all of this fear that people are afraid to come to church because, ‘Oh, I’m going to catch the flu,’” Desjardins says.
“We want them to know that when they’re here they’re safe.”
This means that the hugs and handshakes for the passing of peace and greeting the minister have largely been replaced with oral acknowledgements.
Desjardins also says that the glass vials in which Centretown United serves the wine will now be replaced by disposable cups.
She says she wishes she could do more, but at the moment isn’t sure what this would be.
“We find that the government or the health agencies are saying be aware but they’re not exactly telling you what to do,” she says.
Rev. Richard Siok, of St. Patrick’s Basilica, was given a written guideline about H1N1 from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, but there are some suggestions Siok says he doesn’t agree with.
For example, Siok explains that the guidelines are telling parishes that share wine at communion from one cup “to basically knock it off.”
The archdiocese is also saying the holy water at the front of the church where people bless themselves should be left empty for now.
“That’s not going to work too well,” Siok says. “People are just going to get upset, they’re not going to go for it. That’s going too far.”
St. Patrick’s has instead opted to change the holy water every day, but leave it standing, and if people choose to come up to drink from the communal wine they are not discouraged.
St. Patrick’s is still trying to replace handshakes for the sign of the peace with bowing.
“The priority is for people to receive their communion and not put anything in people’s way to prevent that from happening,” says Rev. Stewart Murray, of Anglo-Catholic St. Barnabas.
He was recently prompted to speak about H1N1 at mass, because he had many of his parishioners coming up to him worried and overwhelmed.
He says his church is encouraging a lot of the basic personal hygiene we were “taught by our mothers.”
“It’s common sense – if you have a heavy cold or something well maybe you shouldn’t share the peace with your neighbour that Sunday,” Murray says.
If there is a pandemic, one thing Murray is worried about is the impact it would have on the church cash flow. The majority of funds come from Sunday donations, which would be lost if people didn’t come to church.
Siok also has his fears. With the Catholic church already facing a shortage of priests, he worries H1N1 could shut down entire parishes if a priest gets sick and there’s no one to replace him. He isn’t concerned for St. Patrick’s though, which has a large ministry.
Murray says caution is needed, but panic is not.
“No one really knows – we may not have a pandemic. It could be a regular flu season, but not reach the levels they’re predicting,” he says.
“I pray that we don’t have a pandemic, but if we do we certainly are prepared to make as many adjustments as possible.”