As Santa Rosa bishop moves to reopen churches, county health officer says not yet

The North Coast’s largest religious denomination and Sonoma County’s health officer appeared to be on a collision course Tuesday in the wake of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s granting permission for limited reopening of California churches this week.

Santa Rosa Bishop Robert Vasa announced his plan for reopening churches from Petaluma to the Oregon border in time for a major Christian celebration Sunday, saying the move would be done in accord with state and county rules.

But hours after Vasa announced his plan, Dr. Sundari Mase, the Sonoma County health officer, said she was not yet ready to authorize any new easing of her shutdown order intended to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

With more than 200 new coronavirus cases in the last two weeks, the county has reached four cases per 10,000 residents, just exceeding a growth rate that Mase recently deemed a “red flag.”

The safest thing to do now, she said, is to “observe what’s going to happen over the next couple weeks, since we just made some modifications last week.”

Vasa, who oversees a six-county diocese with an estimated 196,000 Catholics, earlier on Tuesday released a statement saying the churches would reopen “in accord with state and county guidance and with a view to keeping our people safe from the coronavirus.”

About 30,300 parishioners regularly attend Sunday Mass in the sprawling diocese, where the coronavirus has infected 524 people in Sonoma County and about 220 in five other counties: Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte.

Newsom’s announcement Monday clearing the way for limited in-person religious services came amid growing protests over the continued closure of houses of worship - while other mainstays of civic and commercial life return to business.

“It’s good news,” Vasa said, adding that he and parish priests had been planning the return to congregational worship in time for Pentecost Sunday, which falls 50 days after Easter and “celebrates the birthday of the church,” he said.

Whether churches are deemed “essential” services or not, Vasa said, “the reality is that they are essential for human flourishing.” The benefit of faith “has been sacrificed for nine weeks in deference to the recognized need to flatten the curve of coronavirus infection.”

The state guidance limits in-person worship to a quarter of building capacity or a 100-person maximum, whichever is lower, and Vasa said he is seeking clarification of that standard.

Vasa did not respond to an email sent Tuesday evening after Mase made her comments. She did not specify when she would reconsider revising her current health order.

Leaders of seven local Christian congregations and a Jewish rabbi said they were not opening their church and temple doors this weekend.

“I do not see a way in which we can guarantee getting together in person will do no harm,” said Lindsey Bell-Kerr, pastor of Christ Church United Methodist and First United Methodist Church in Santa Rosa. Getting inside a building “isn’t an important thing because the church is not a building. The church is the people,” she said.

She and other pastors said their churches never really closed because they have been holding virtual services throughout the shutdown, including a communion Bell-Kerr conducted via Zoom.

“We’re kind of reticent to rush right into things,” said Dean Kladder, co-pastor of Healdsburg Community Church, which counted a member among the county’s four COVID-19 fatalities. A survey of his congregation found “nobody is itching to bust the door open,” he said.

Rabbi Stephanie Kramer at Santa Rosa’s Congregation Shomrei Torah, said that “pikuach nefesh” - which translates as “saving a life” - is a paramount principle of Judaism.

“Just because we could (reopen) doesn’t mean we should,” she said.

The county’s largest Jewish congregation has formed a committee of physicians, scientists and logistics experts to determine the best way to reopen for services and other programs.

“We want to make sure we do this as safely and comfortably as we can,” Kramer said.

The Rev. Stephen Shaver, rector at the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, said his congregation longs to worship together again.

“But I would rather open the doors a few weeks later than we could have, than open them early and put people in danger,” he said in an email. The congregation will be doing things differently for several months, possibly including outdoor worship, almost certainly wearing masks and figuring out ways to maintain social distance.

“And there are many who simply won’t be able to attend in person until there’s a vaccine, Shaver said.

Dan Boyd, pastor of Hope Chapel in Santa Rosa, said the 25% of capacity standard would limit his congregation to about 30 participants, which “wouldn’t be a very lively service.” Holding an outdoor service in the next week or two is a possibility, he said.

Cindy Alloway, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the Roses in Santa Rosa, said she would be consulting with the congregation’s elders and officers Tuesday night and has a preference “to be patient and learn from the mistakes of other churches.” Reopening on Fourth of July weekend is an attractive target, she said, depending on what the coronavirus does by then, she said.

“All of this is very scary, to have recorded 100,000 deaths in such a short time,” said Alloway, who was a nurse before she trained as a pastor.

Rich Cundall, lead pastor at Hessel Church near Sebastopol, said he and a group of faith leaders will have a Zoom meeting Wednesday with county Supervisors James Gore and Shirlee Zane.

“We love our community,” he said. “We’re taking our marching orders from our county supervisors.”

Like most congregations, Hessel is conducting virtual services, but those lack singing and worshiping amid fellowship, making participants feel “more like spectators,” Cundall said

Hessel drew 600 to 700 people for live services before the shutdown and has since picked up people in other states and countries via Zoom, he said.

Adam Peacocke, a former pastor and leader of an informal coalition of about 60 faith-based organizations, said the state guidance will be “very meaningful for helping people practice their faith.”

“We’re excited to move forward,” he said, noting there had been “increasing pressure” on Newsom “to make this move.”

The guidance requires congregants to be screened for disease symptoms, wear face coverings and use hand sanitizer. They are discouraged from singing, holding potluck meals, shaking hands and hugging.

It also says that convening members from multiple households “carries a relatively higher risk for widespread transmission of the COVID-19 virus and may result in increased rates of infection, hospitalization and death, especially among more vulnerable populations.”

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.