Sonoma County’s religious institutions maneuver around dwindling attendance, online services amid coronavirus

There were more empty seats than usual Sunday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.

The Rincon Valley church, which holds about 400 people, had about a quarter of its typical Sunday crowd. Parishioners were spread out throughout the pews, adhering to instructions from public health officials to keep their distance from others.

The opening psalm echoed off the high wood-arched ceiling and light brick walls depicting the stations of the cross as Father Ron Serban arrived at the altar. At the conclusion of “All Are Welcome,” he offered a dose of his trademark humor to bring some levity to the situation.

“Welcome, faithful remnant,” Serban told parishioners, drawing chuckles from the pews.

Like Holy Spirit, churches around the world are facing new challenges as the spread of the coronavirus transforms the way people worship. Congregations across Sonoma County are weighing how to balance tradition and faith against directives from both religious and health officials who have urged people to avoid large public gatherings, particularly those 65 years old and up, and quarantine at home when necessary.

While several local congregations have opted to suspend services or temporarily transition to online worship, Holy Spirit has opted to keep the doors open for the time being, though with a slightly abridged format and fewer rituals. In January, the church ceased serving wine that represents the blood of Christ during communion. It went a step further last month by removing holy water used by attendees to dip their fingers and make the sign of the cross as they enter.

On Sunday, Serban announced the diocese had made it optional to attend Mass while public health officials strive to slow down the spread of the virus. Such changes to long-held customs are rare for Catholicism, he said.

“If you go back to the old days, missing Mass on Sunday is a sin,” he said in an interview. “This is a big step for the Catholics, to give automatic dispensation, but I think it’s the right thing to do. It’s all about protecting the people, not about the institution. I don’t want people to feel in any way threatened or endangered, especially going to church.”

Other denominations are erring even further on the side of caution, by transitioning to web-based platforms to continue weekly services.

Rabbi George Gittleman made the difficult decision last week to cancel all events at Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa to abide by public health officials’ directives to limit large gatherings of people. He acknowledged the virus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, has the capacity to tear at the seams of religious traditions, but that maintaining some semblance of those connections online - even if imperfect - is helping stem the loss of the weekly Sabbath.

“I’m not as concerned about the inability to worship as I am the inability to gather,” Gittleman said. “We gain spiritual strength from being amongst each other more than anything else. You gain strength from community.”

Santa Rosa’s New Vintage Church and Unitarian Universalist Congregation have also stopped in-person worship sessions and now stream their services on the internet so members can still participate and continue to receive spiritual guidance, even if it’s from their homes. Both churches plan to reevaluate at the end of March.

“With the way that the virus has been shown to be spreading, we want to support the community in the best way possible,” said Christy Martinez, service program director at New Vintage Church. “Loving our neighbor well right now means taking a pause and doing something differently. We want the community to know we love them and will be here, and we can still do that.”

A tad more cleaning and a few more precautions so far have had minimal impact on Mass at Holy Spirit in Rincon Valley, said Deacon John Storm. Even during the solemn period of Lent that builds to the celebration of Easter next month, he said, the sense of community has endured, just among a smaller congregation.

Maureen Karbousky, 72, and her husband, Alan, 71, of Rincon Valley have remained devout in their weekly attendance and - virus or not - have no plans of changing course now.

“I thought the Mass this morning was beautiful. The people that were here really wanted to be here,” she said. “I thought it was very close and intimate, compared to when there’s a huge crowd here.”

Serban, their pastor, reaffirmed his commitment to keep holding service at the church, even if he’s directed to ask people to stop coming.

“If a certain time comes where we have to just not have Mass at all, I want you to be assured of something: I will be saying Mass every day for you,” he told the members of his church. “Even if I’m just here locked in, Mass will be said. So, life will go on; parish life will go on. We’ll hope to see you again next week. Let us pray.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.