Seven Anglican dioceses affected: Ontario churches to stay closed until September
Comment By Sue Careless
THE ONTARIO House of Bishops in the Anglican Church of Canada has ruled that all churches in the ecclesiastical province of Ontario will remain closed for ”in-person worship until at least September, regardless of where the government of Ontario is with its reopening plan.” The decision affects over 70,000 Anglicans in seven dioceses: Algoma, Huron, Moosonee, Niagara, Ontario, Ottawa and Toronto.
Questions are being raised about whether there could have been a week-by-week evaluation of when to open churches as well as region-by-region decisions in consultation with local public health units.
In contrast, the Ontario government has ruled that, effective June 12th, all places of worship in the province will be permitted to open with physical distancing in place and attendance limited to no more than 30 per cent of the building capacity to ensure the safety of worshippers.
Instead in their June 1st pastoral letter, the Ontario House of Bishops invited parishioners “to observe a summer sabbath rest.” The use of this phrase is curious – maybe even ironic – in that biblically sabbath rest, described clearly in the Fourth Commandment, refers to rest from work not rest from worship.
“The well-being and safety of all our parishioners and the communities we serve is uppermost in our hearts and minds,” wrote Archbishop Anne Germond, metropolitan of Ontario.
“Online worship services, food banks and other essential outreach and community ministries taking place in church buildings will continue, as they have been in recent months.” Ten other bishops signed the letter.
Is the Ontario House of Bishops’ decision too sweeping? Too much an overreach of episcopal power? Abp. Germond’s letter states, “This decision was made in consultation with public health experts….” Yes, public health officials would need to be consulted but surely in a more timely and local way?
The other three ecclesiastical provinces have issued no such ban. Instead individual dioceses are structuring their own detailed step-by-step approach to modified in-person worship, with definite limits on the size of gatherings and a recognition that some parishes may be able to reopen before others in the same diocese, but that all must observe strict public health protocols. One wonders if the Ontario bishops will allow drive-in worship?
It will be interesting to follow the opening process of other denominations, particularly the Anglican Network in Canada, as well as the Baptist and Roman Catholic churches. Will Anglican Church of Canada members who find themselves closed out of their own churches, for what will amount to six months by September, visit churches that do open? Will they perhaps remain in them permanently? Or will many ACC members drop out of church completely? The pastoral letter encourages the continuation of online services, but after three months of such worship, many are becoming restless for the real thing.
In the seven dioceses affected, there are about 635 parishes that will have to keep their doors closed to in-person public worship, shutting out about 820 congregations. While 182,000 people in total are officially on Anglican parish rolls in these dioceses, the number who would regularly worship in these church communities would more likely be somewhere between 70,000 and 95,000 people. TAP
