St Lucie Voice Easter Article
Grace made it into the St Lucie Voice again today.
check it out below.
St. Lucie churches conducting Holy Week services online
BY GEORGE ANDREASSI | Staff Writer george@stlucievoice.com
Pastors across St. Lucie County who would normally be preparing for overflow crowds on Easter Sunday switched to producing videos of Holy Week services to enable congregants to worship online.
St. Lucie County churches have been posting videos of services on their websites, Youtube and Facebook in response to new social distancing norms and bans on groups of more than 10 people. Grace Lutheran Church in St. Lucie West set up a makeshift television studio in the sanctuary to produce videos of services, said Pastor Cris Escher.
St. Bernadette Catholic Church videos the daily Mass on an iPhone set up on a tripod and also shares the services online, said Pastor Victor Ulto.
The goal is to continue practicing comforting religious traditions at a time of great spiritual need, Escher, Ulto and other religious leaders said. “A joke we’ve been saying in the church world is: ‘I didn’t expect to give up quite this much for Lent,’” Escher said. “It’ll be interesting as this idea of having to give up things continues past Easter, but we know God is watching over us.”
“We don’t really see our members anymore, we don’t really see the people anymore,” Escher said. “We have transferred everything online. Our sanctuary is now a TV studio. We have lights up.”
“We want to make sure people stay health and not spread the virus, so that’s why we’re doing all this,” Escher said. “I try to express hopefulness that we are all together, at least in spirit, in this tough time.”
St. Bernadette’s priests are still available to take confessions, offer private Masses and anoint the sick, Ulto said. But public Masses and mingling with congregants is on hold until the pandemic passes.
“All priests are ordained to be with the people,” Ulto said. “When you can’t be with the people, it’s a very unique and painful situation for us and the people themselves. Many of them has responded how much they miss us as well.”
“What’s paramount is us being the church and supporting them,” Ulto said. “The church is the people. We’re being deployed to our homes and to minister to those who are sick and dying.”
St. Lucie County Administrator Howard Tipton said sunrise services on Easter morning at county beaches and parks were not an option this year because of the ban on large gatherings.
“We encourage you to find a place to worship in your house or maybe if you wanted to go outside to a park, just not in a large crowd,” Tipton said during a news briefing Monday (April 6).
“It’s just going to be different this year and you’ve just got to get used to it,” Tipton said. “This is a big holiday, it’s a special event on the Christian calendar, we get that, we just want everybody to be safe.” “You can be safe and
