The Rev. Tom Burke has been a priest for nearly two decades. But the St. Mary Magdalene Parish pastor would have a hard time remembering a moment during his tenure quite like the one he experienced Monday — the first day since mid-March he was able to welcome people into St. Bede Catholic Church in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood.

“In the 19 years of my priesthood, we never shut down the church,” Burke said. “To have it locked and so quiet, it’s just been weird.

“So it was joyful to reopen the doors and to welcome people back and to celebrate Mass physically with people in the church. When I saw the parishioners, 23 people coming in, it was a big excitement, like a breath of fresh air.”

Catholic churches began to open their doors last week after months of closure and limited interactions with worshipers.

Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and Bishop Edward C. Malesic of the Diocese of Greensburg have allowed the celebration of daily Mass since June 1. As congregations return to Sunday Mass for the first time today, they will seek to balance spiritual health with new measures to keep worshipers physically safe.

Burke is anticipating an enthusiastic turnout.

“I’m excited. We’re ready,” Burke said. “We’re just going to open up and see what happens.”

Monsignor Michael Begolly, pastor of Mount St. Peter, St. Mary of Czestochowa and St. Joseph Catholic churches in New Kensington, is excited but a bit anxious.

“I’m excited because it will be wonderful to see the people again and to celebrate with them, because I’ve missed that for the past two months,” Begolly said. “But I’m also a little bit anxious. I know that a lot of our elderly and folks who are in the vulnerable at-risk group are some of the ones who want to be here front and center.

“And I have been encouraging them to practice restraint and pray from home at this point.”

Other denominations more cautious

Even though Gov. Tom Wolf has lifted the stay-at-home order in Pennsylvania, other denominations are reluctant to even tempt members of their flock to show up for services.

Among them are Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians.

“They love their churches and they love the Mass and they want to be a part of it all again as soon as they possibly can be,” said The Right Rev. Dorsey McConnell, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. “It’s a sacrifice on everyone’s part to be separated from each other and from the sacraments. Even if we begin to open up, my greatest concern is for those in our congregations who are over the age of 65, in what is considered a more vulnerable category.

“We told them we’d love to have you gather again. But we’re going to ask you please not to do so until we have an assurance that we can do that in a way that is consistent with your own safety and the safety of others.”

Ryan Pusch, pastor of Hebron Lutheran Church in Leechburg and St. Paul’s Highfield Lutheran Church outside of Vandergrift, cites an older, vulnerable congregation as a prime reason for keeping his church doors closed.

“I’m sure younger folks want us to open sooner,” Pusch said. “We all have to figure out when we’re going to get ready to walk that path of reopening. But we still have to make sure we have plenty of space, lines marking where people can sit. We have to figure out the flow of worship.”

Pusch said he has been able to bring people together online through the use of technology. He admits it’s not the same as being with them in person.

“Preaching to a computer screen and a camera, I’m looking at myself, which is just awkward,” Pusch said. “It’s a very different skill to learn how to be present when you’re not physically present. When you are in the physical presence of others, sharing Scriptures and praying together, that’s where we say that we really encounter God. We miss that. We miss Holy Communion. People are longing for that, but we’re not going to try to share Communion if it’s going to increase people’s risk of getting sick.”

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said masks are required for parishioners returning to church services (though no one will be turned away if they can’t wear a mask for health reasons). Use of hand sanitizer is required as well as maintaining a distance of 6 feet on both sides and front and back. And there are other precautions as well.

New rules: No singing, 60-person limit

“Mass will not be the same that people are used to,” Begolly said. “It’s not the Mass that they left two months ago.

“We’re not allowing singing. We’ll have instrumental music played before Mass and at certain parts during Mass. But there will be no congregational singing, and that’s one of the things that’s really the draw here at Mount St. Peter’s — the choir and the fact that everybody sings their heart out.”

Begolly will be keeping an eye on the number of people coming into the church.

“There is really only room for about 60 people in order to maintain that 6-foot distance. If we have a large crowd returning this weekend, we would not be able to accommodate them all.”

Begolly said there are four Masses happening Sunday morning — two at Mount St. Peter and two at St. Joseph. If more people show up than can be allowed in, they will be invited to the next Mass.

Begolly added if there is enough demand, they will consider adding an additional service starting next week.

Some churches already open

Some Protestant churches already are open. First Trinity United Church of Christ in Youngwood resumed services in late May, though it did so largely against the wishes of the Rev. David Ackerman. Ackerman is conference minister of the Penn West conference of the United Church of Christ, which represents 101 churches in Western Pennsylvania.

“It is my deep desire for churches to take the precautions that will help them to share the Gospel in a way that spreads the good news and doesn’t spread the disease,” Ackerman said. “It would be completely devastating for me if I had advised a church to open before it was ready, to think that a tragedy could have been avoided.

”Those are words I hope never to say: that a tragedy could have been avoided had I just urged a little more caution and/or patience.”

In-person services — just not in church

Other churches are thinking outside the box — literally. Gary Lyon is co-pastor along with his wife, Lisa, of Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church in Leechburg, an organization known for coming up with creative ideas.

Early in the pandemic, Lyon came up with the idea for “ashes to go” that enabled people to receive their ashes on Ash Wednesday without leaving their cars. Lyon said while the building is closed for the time being, they are looking at finding alternative ways for people to share physical space together.

“We’re trying to create those face-to-face experiences in safe ways,” Lyon said. “We’re looking at doing some outdoor worship settings in the next few weeks. We have the portable sound system to make that possible. We don’t have the property to make that possible, so we would have to go into some parks or some private areas to make that happen.”

Lyon said they are looking at traveling to people’s homes and gathering on porches or front lawns.

“We know that there is a major need for the in-presence of the body of Christ, so we’re finding ways to make that happen,” Lyon said.

Bishop: Prayer needed in tumultuous times

McConnell, the Episcopal bishop, said it’s difficult not to be able to welcome people into churches, especially during the tumultuous aftermath of the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man killed May 25 at the hands of police officers, now charged in his death.

“It’s hugely frustrating,” McConnell said. “There are colleagues within the diocese that I haven’t seen in person in over two months. But that is the world that we are in at this moment, at this time. And we’ve got to believe that Jesus Christ in his power is strong enough to hold us together and to show us a way through this.

“Show us a way through the pandemic. Show us a way through the grief and the rage following this hideous injustice that took place in Minneapolis.”

Begolly said he realizes this week is a great time for people to be able to come back to his churches to pray.

“But you don’t have to come to Mass in order to pray. Our church is open from 9 in the morning until our evening Mass at 7.

“So, I’ve also encouraged people to come and spend quiet time in prayer for their own personal needs as well as to pray for an end to the pandemic and for an end to the social unrest and a way to deal with the racism that continues to plague us.”