PORTLAND, Oregon — It's the Sunday after Christmas. At Christ the King Parish in Milwaukie, a larger crowd of Catholics is now allowed inside.
“We were very happy with that gift that came before Christmas because it meant we could open up our parishes to a larger extent to people this Christmas," said Monsignor Gerard O’Connor. O’Connor is Director of Divine Worship with the Archdiocese of Portland.
The "gift" Msgr. O’Connor is referring to is Oregon Governor Kate Brown's clarification that limits at places of worship were recommendations and not legal requirements.
“People need to practice their faith, especially in times of trouble, and this pandemic has been awful… People have missed their churches, missed coming together as a community, praying and receiving the sacraments and that’s very important for us Catholics," O’Connor said.
The Archdiocese of Portland had been pushing back against restrictions that limited capacity to 25-percent or no more than 100 people, whichever was less.
Now, the organization of Catholic churches says it will welcome as many as safely possible, depending on the size of the space.
“The archbishop said we can seat as many people as we can with the appropriate social distancing, the wearing of masks and the sanitization of our churches, to keep them all safe,” said O’Connor.
On a blue-skied Sunday morning, parishioners seemed pleased to see more spirits lifted at the parish.
“It's great seeing all these people visiting and being safe, but being happy and enjoying the season,” said Trevor Bavarskas.
"Every Sunday, it feels good to come over here you know?” said Shan Holtzer. “It makes us feel better and there's hope, there's hope in faith.”
And there's hope in keeping safety in mind at the same time.
“It will be interesting to see what it looks like in there,” said Emma Bavarskas before entering the sanctuary. “We went to midnight Mass for Christmas and it was really quiet, not a lot of people, so I'm really interested to see what happens.”
Some other churches may be interested to see what happens as well. Because not all of the faith community is in favor of in-person worship right now, and many continue with virtual services only.
