Leaders cautious on reopening places of worship

There is still a lot that churches need to educate themselves on before their doors are open to congregants.

This was the response of pastors, bishops and gurus in Nelson Mandela Bay on Wednesday, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Tuesday that places of worship, including churches, mosques, temples, synagogues and others, could reopen — with the number of worshippers limited to 50 —  as of June 1.  

The news garnered a mixed reaction, with some religious leaders opting to err on the side of caution.

Ramaphosa’s announcement came after a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council, which considered the input of religious leaders given at recent consultative meetings with interfaith leaders.

He cautioned that care had to be taken to ensure the safety of the congregants and that the wearing of masks was compulsory.

SS Aulayam Hindu temple guru Kesu Padayachy welcomed the announcement.

However, he said the temple would continue live-streaming its services until he felt it was safe for the congregation to go back to the temple.

SS Aulayam has temples in Malabar and the Baakens Valley.

“From our perspective, with regard [to the fact that] that the congregation members are mostly senior, we’re not opening the temples,” Padayachy said.

“We’re finding that the virus spreads when people congregate together.

“The danger when there is a group of people is high, regardless of the protection you take.

“We’re choosing the side of caution.

“Another factor to take into consideration is the fact that we’re approaching the winter months and the experience we’ve seen in other countries is that the virus spreads rapidly during this time, so we’ll rather wait.”

He said one of the biggest motivators for the decision was that Nelson Mandela Bay was one of the country’s Covid-19 hotspots.

Anglican Bishop Eddie Daniels said churches could not be prevented from opening but it could not be business as usual.

“The proposed reopening of schools has exposed the logistical implications of such a step,” he said.

“All our deliberations, in my opinion, would need to consider the implications of the protocols prescribed by the government.

“For example, is a local church able to sanitise the building before and after each service?

“Due to the lockdown, churches have battled with income by way of the collection plate.

“So it precipitates a question about the availability of funds to acquire, for example, thermometers and other personal protective equipment.”

As to how the church would choose which 50 people would be allowed in, Daniels said a fair formula would have to be arrived at. 

“First come, first served is a fair way, but there are other considerations that need to inform the selection process.

“This is where age and comorbidities have to be important factors for consideration.

“Masks covering the nose and mouth need to be worn throughout the service and, by implication, singing will probably not be permitted.

“We would need to deliberate how communion is served and plate collection is taken,” he said.

Bishop Jacob Freemantle, head of the Methodist church in Makhanda, said churches understood the difficult position the president was in.

He said Ramaphosa’s announcement could not be met with complacency as it was another opportunity to engage in awareness campaigns and teachings about the danger of Covid-19.

Freemantle said the church would continue contributing in the fight against the coronavirus  in the best way it could, which was through prayer, counsel and advice where possible.

“We’ll participate in all means to save lives.

“This we do as a good gesture of representing God who loves all people.

“This saving includes continuing assisting the poverty-stricken and assisting the health workers through the intervention to the hungry, providing resources and skills where we can for the healing of the people,” he said. 

Assemblies of God Association of Southern Africa executive member Apostle Neville Goldman said the church would maintain high levels of compliance but that before opening its doors, it would spend a month observing how things unfolded.

He said there were issues churches needed to be wiser on before opening their doors.

“When it comes to the church, I want to gauge this for the first month [and] sanitise [the] church.

“It would be very difficult to start church fully, especially one that usually has 3,000 people,” he said.

Goldman said they would take the first month to get staff ready and plan how things would move forward when the congregants started attending church.

“It takes one person to be Covid-19 positive and then there’s no church for two weeks.

“The problem is that you don’t know who has it or they don’t know themselves and they come to church and possibly infect others,” Goldman said.

He said Ramaphosa had not been clear on whether  other services such as counselling, which he said was much needed, would be available.

“The mental pressure on people is immense, the pressure of not having a job, the pressure of not having an income.

“The church can play a major role here,” Goldman said.

Presidency spokesperson Kusela Diko had not responded to questions about   the rationale behind the reopening of churches at the time of going to print.