During this unusual Lenten period, as we protect ourselves and one another from the Covid-19 outbreak through measures recommended by government health authorities, such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), our Churches have adopted similar measures to protect the most vulnerable as well as the healthy.
The work of the clergy – just as the work of health-care professionals, first-responders, store clerks, truck drivers and other occupations that have been identified as essential – continues. Priests are still serving liturgies (behind closed doors), funerals, and sacraments of confession and communion for the ill and infirm, and even baptism if necessary. Sunday divine liturgies remain “in behalf of all, and for all” despite the pews remaining empty.