Once again, local worship services have had to adjust to additional COVID-19 restrictions set by the Province.
Of the restrictions put in place Dec. 8, the main one affecting most worship services has been a reduced capacity of in-person attendance. The Alberta government has mandated a 15 per cent capacity for all faith-based gatherings, making many establishments have to adjust on the fly.
“We have limited the number of people...who can attend in person at this time,” said Syed Sohardwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, which owns Airdrie’s Jamia Riyadhul Jannah Masjid. “A lot of people are being asked to pray at home. This adds to isolation and people not feeling connected to the community.”
Sohardwardy said local Muslims who use worship services to connect with community members are feeling the most impacts. He added COVID-19 is a dangerous virus and whatever can be done do keep the public safe is important.
“It is our Islamic duty to keep ourselves healthy, and also protect others,” he said. “Protection of health supersedes everything.”
According to Sohardwardy, places of worship essentially act as charities, which means the additional restrictions have made it difficult to collect donations.
“Since the new restrictions, people are scared to come to the mosque, so donations have gone down significantly,” he said. “We are struggling to pay for many things. Bills have to be paid. There is some help from the government, but it’s not enough.”
Sohardwardy added the mosque currently only operates one in-person prayer per week, on Friday nights. All other programs offered like Qur’an studies, youth groups and other services have been put on hold.
Sohardwardy said the local Muslim community is praying that one day soon it will be safe for them to gather at the mosque once again.
“There are a lot of uncertainties and unknowns,” he said. “Hopefully, a vaccine will be effective, and we can go back to normal. We want to remain optimistic.”
While Airdrie’s Muslim community continues to feel the impacts of the new restrictions, other religious groups are adjusting as well.
Brad Bristow, pastor with Cornerstone Church, said one solace about the new restrictions is the church was already operating with a reduced capacity.
“The biggest adjustments we have had to make were with the number of people able to come to the service, and the other one with a big impact has been the mask mandate,” said Bristow. “There are people who struggle with the idea of wearing a mask, then there are the realities of what it means for us in our service when we have the mask mandate.”
Bristow said it was an adjustment getting used to two large components of the worship service – the music and the preaching portion – being done while masked.
“Your expression has such an impact on what people experience,” Bristow said. “To have that go away in an instant was tricky. We are certainly not anti-masks or anything like that, but it has made things harder.”
Prior to the pandemic, Bristow said Cornerstone Church would house anywhere from 100 to 115 people during a Sunday service. Now, with restrictions, fewer than 20 people are allowed to attend.
He said the church has been blessed to not experience a decrease in donations throughout the pandemic.
“Our giving has actually gone up this year,” he said. “We have been really blessed to have faithful people who continue to give. I know for lots of places the financial picture has been very bleak.”
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
