St Mark's Anglican Church at South Hurstville will hold its last on-site services this Sunday for the foreseeable future and look for new ways of caring for its congregation.
The church is investigating the live streaming of its services after Sunday,as are many other Anglican churches in the Sydney Diocese.
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies yesterday asked all Anglican Churches in the Sydney Diocese not to have services in response to the coronavirus emergency.
"In light of the Prime Minister's announcement banning enclosed gatherings in excess of 100 people, I have decided that the Anglican Church in Sydney should suspend all public church gatherings until further notice." the Archbishop said.
"We are encouraging all our churches to consider providing their services online or by other communication methods," he said.
St Mark's Anglican Church lay assistant, Bruce Cooke said while the Prime Minister has banned gatherings of 100 or more the church is taking a stronger stand.
"We usually have about 60 people at our 8am Sunday service and 30 at our 10am service, plus we have mid-week activities.
"The Rector, Reverend Peter Greenwood sent out a message last night saying mid-week activities should be be suspended until further notice.
"We will have services in the church this Sunday and will look live streaming and this will be supplemented with home church groups of smaller gatherings.
"A lot of congregations are less than 100 but the Archbishop said that the church feels it is important to model our community care for the vulnerable.
"We are allowed to have home groups such as bible study to be held at people's homes," Mr Cooke said.
"I am a Communion Assistant and one of my jobs is taking Communion to nursing homes and 'shuttings', that is people in their homes.
"This has been made more difficult. We are still working out a way of helping our sick and elderly.
"Sharing the Communion cup was stopped two weeks ago.
"This was one of the early preparations we had in response to the situation but things have overtaken this."
Mr Cooke said St Mark's would not be holding its unique Anzac service which includes Australian, New Zealand and Turkish participants.
Weddings and funerals will also be affected.
The Archbishop has recommended that only family members attend these.
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher has written a pastoral letter to Catholics, reassuring them that their safety and wellbeing is paramount during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Archbishop Fisher said Catholic churches across Sydney will follow federal government advice to minimise the spread of the coronavirus and limit attendees at Masses to no more than 100 people.
Priests have been granted permission to temporarily increase the number of Masses and celebrate multiple Sunday Masses as necessary to accommodate these changes.
In cases where public Masses have to be suspended, a dispensation from attending Mass is granted and Catholics will be able to fulfil their Sunday Mass obligation by setting aside some time for prayer at home, reading the Scriptures of the day and watching Mass on television or online.
In his pastoral letter, Archbishop Fisher emphasised that priests will continue to serve the sick, elderly and frail, including those suffering from COVID-19, but parishioners who are unwell should not attend public Masses at this time.
"Please be assured that any Catholic who contracts COVID-19 will as far as possible be assisted by our clergy with the sacraments and other pastoral care. It's at times like these that our pastors really shine", Archbishop Fisher said.
"In addition to the sacramental care provided by parishes, healthy young volunteers and others should consider prudent ways to check in with the sick frail elderly or otherwise isolated to inquire whether they have particular needs- for groceries, medicine or simple company".
Archbishop Fisher's Pastoral Letter and Directions for the Archdiocese of Sydney are available online via www.sydneycatholic.org/coronavirus-updates/
To assist parishioners unable to physically attend Mass through this crisis, a dedicated webpage has been set up through the Archdiocese of Sydney website at:
