This is Holy Week for most Christians, but not as we know it. Coronavirus has managed what anti-religious movements have failed to do: all places of worship have been ordered to close their doors as part of the restrictions on public gatherings.
That is why Christian churches, from Anglican to Catholic will be silent as we move through Good Friday to Easter Sunday.
Last time churches were closed to the public was around 800 years ago.
This time around all places of worship, of all religions, have been forced to deny their parishioners the ability to gather and pray together.
This week it’s the major Christian denominations affected, while next week Orthodox churches will experience that empty feeling as part of Easter.
The month long Ramadan will be next cab off the rank, starting from April 23.
Of course some local churches will conduct Mass and live stream it somehow, but it will depend on how tech savvy the parish priest is.
Father Michael Healy, the veteran Catholic priest of the St Thomas More parish told me that fellow priest Father John Ho was live streaming services all this week from St John the Evangelist.
And while this is sad, as Father Healy said to me, it is what it is and we must focus on beating the virus.
Police are relentlessly reminding the community to celebrate safely this year by not engaging in groups and avoiding non-essential travel, in order to protect their loved ones and the wider community from the threat of Covid-19.
NSW Police Force corporate sponsor for cultural and linguistic diversity, Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell, said being apart now will give us our best chance of being together in the future.
“It will feel different to not share a meal with extended family, to not break the fast with people we value or to not be able to sit around the table with generations exchanging stories and tradition,” he said.
“The hardest thing for many of us will be that at this time we cannot as a family, visit loved ones and friends and we are unable to celebrate in each other’s homes.
“It is a time where changing our behaviour is not about breaking tradition but rather ensuring that we have a future for traditions that have transformed through this experience.”
