Since the pandemic began, area religious institutions have had to adapt how their communities pray and connect.
At Hamden Plains United Methodist Church, Pastor Brian Bodt said that they started doing broadcast ministry, something they have never done before as their Bishop closed the churches for public worship on March 13, 2020. Bodt’s church ran its first broadcast two days after the shutdown.
Originally, Bodt was not inclined to run a broadcast, but the only other option was to stop worshipping.
“That was not an acceptable alternative, so we started out by pre-recording some segments and putting it together during the week and then airing it on Sunday,” Bodt said.
The church then began holding a live Zoom service and outdoor worship, which took place in its parking lot. All meetings and Sunday School also took place on Zoom.
“Our alternative there was to cease having meetings and while nobody is a big fan of meetings, the nature of the church and particularly protestant churches is that the ministry happens in part through the shared talents that come together in meetings,” Bodt said.
Both the Hamden Plains United Methodist Church and Grace & St. Peter’s Episcopal Church host the Dinner for a Dollar program in cooperation with the United Way. Reverend Robert Bergner of Grace & St. Peter’s said the program used to allow people to sit and enjoy their meal. Due to COVID-19, that has changed.
“For the last year we’ve been operating that as a takeout dinner, so people drive by, literally, and pick up their meals as they drive through,” Bergner said.
Grace & St. Peter’s has not had indoor worship since March. Bergner said he zoomed from inside the church for a few services, but by April 2020, he went to various locations in Hamden and broadcasted a service from these different places. Later on, the church joined forces with St. John’s Episcopal Church in North Haven and held outdoor services from its yard when it is nice out.
“On Zoom you actually see people’s faces and they can see each other and they can chat and they can pass notes which is kind of a mischievous but delightful facet of Zoom that you can send notes to each other like you’re in sixth grade and passing notes around when the teacher is talking, which I find actually a positive thing to do,” Bergner said.
At the Abdul-Majid Karim Hasan Islamic Center, Imam Saladina Hasan said a big challenge they have faced is having the center open for the community, but having to turn people away due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, Hasan has said most people that stop by the center are vaccinated and are still masked.
“It has affected us in the sense of the closeness,” Hasan said. “We’re not together like we’re accustomed to, like we enjoy being.”
Hasan also said all of the services are available online through social media and have been able to reach more people that way, which he said is a good thing.
“We have an obligation to be out there in society, letting them see us, letting them know that we exist so we can balance out some of the evils that we see in society, that we all see, not just brown-skinned people, not just Muslim, not just Christian, that we all see,” Hasan said.
At Quinnipiac University, Rabbi Reena Judd of the Peter C. Hereld House said that she is worried about younger Jews as some of them could not have a traditional bar or bat mitzvah or have been able to go to typical services.
“I think (COVID-19) is going to have a huge effect, I mean we’re going to have a generation, a year and a half of people, who will just have no frame of reference of how do Jews do a funeral?,” Judd said. “The kids with no bar mitzvahs or the bar mitzvah on Zoom. I know we are doing the best we can but that doesn’t mean it always cuts it.”
Judd said she doesn’t force Jewish students to stop by the house for events due to capacity restrictions. She has hosted as many events as normal, but understands many students are still nervous about COVID-19.
“I know that students who otherwise truly might have showed up aren’t,” Judd said. “They’re nervous, everybody is nervous.”