SAN DIEGO — Since the pandemic closures began in March, many places of worship have been closed for traditional services and switched to holding online services.
Some faith leaders feel religious liberties were infringed upon when places of worship were not deemed “essential" to remain open in California. Some leaders have worked to follow state guidelines, but others are finding a happy medium. Some churches have filed lawsuits against the state.
"One of the biggest challenges is our church is very affectionate. They love gathering together and worshiping together, and that being taken away is emotionally draining," said Ricky Page, a lead a pastor of The Rock Church San Diego.
That strain has lasted longer than many people anticipated, but all is not lost. After holding services solely online, Page said viewership has grown to over 42,000 people on average tuning in each week.
Congregation Beth El would love to congregate in person.
"For us in the Jewish community, the big challenge for us right now is imagining our Holy Day season, which comes in September, where typically, we would put 1,000-something people in our sanctuary and gather together. We're clearly not going to be able to do that," said Rabbi Ron Shulman.
The synagogue had to improvise online for Passover this year to stay in compliance.
"Do I think we should change the rules at a point in time when it's not safe to have those gatherings? Absolutely not," Shulman said.
In Bonita at the Corpus Christ Catholic Church, mass has moved outside underneath tents.
“I think it's been challenging, but it's also been a great opportunity for us to be creative and bring the church to people’s homes even in the midst of this pandemic. God has not abandoned us,” said Father Efrain Bautista.
Bautista described the difficulties of going from seven services on a Sunday and seeing about 5,000 people to a much dramatically smaller crowd.
"We had to mark all of our pews. We had to mark all of our aisles to make sure people were observing that social distancing,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom's extensive rules for religious services limits church attendance to 25% of building capacity or 100 attendees maximum, which leaves faith leaders in a tricky position about who to admit in church and who gets cut off.
"You have that 101st person, and you have to go like, 'I'm sorry,'” Bautista said.
Donations have been down for some churches, causing pastors to get resourceful.
"A pastor in an African American community has to be a little bit of everything that society needs because many of those resources don't exist in our society and in those communities,” said Pastor Terrell Fletcher of the City of Hope International Church.
Fletcher says faith leaders should have been consulted in the governor's guidance that restricts singing and limits worship time and attendance.
“To make a mandate that essentially makes what we do purely social is to somewhat devalue what we bring to communities, and I felt like faith voices deserved a seat a the table to discuss these guidelines impacting us,” Fletcher said.
Awaken Church in Kearny Mesa came under fire recently for holding an in-person service indoors. Lead Pastor of Awaken Jurgen Matthesius said enough is enough.
“We’re certainly not out there trying to riot or cause harm in the community, what we want to do is peacefully assemble and petition our God in Heaven.”
Matthesius says there’s an expiration date on how long a church can function online as his calls for counseling have gone through the roof concerning many battling addictions, isolation and divorce.
“We want to help the city, we want to help the Governor, but we kind of feel like our hands our being tied behind our backs, and there's a level of us being muted,” Matthesius said.
Thousands packed Cardiff State Beach for a "Let Us Worship" gathering with very few people social distancing that caught the disapproval of the San Diego County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten, who called the event “an egregious violation.”
But places of worship are pushing back. Abiding Place Ministries in Alpine and Campo filed a lawsuit against the state.
“We are taking the legal approach that the court recognizes the church as essential, we bring as much to the table as any medical or clinical scientist, when we pray for people in the name of Jesus we have a higher rate of success, so it is unjust for the government to impose upon us,” said Mark Spitsbergen, pastor of Abiding Place Ministries.
Spitsbergen holds worship services outside Alpine Elementary school, where the congregation sings and speaks in tongues. He says his church’s case goes beyond fighting for the rights to assemble.
“We have not had a single case of Covid-19, we told courts we were happy to be liable, we have trained medical staff members, we’re not an ignorant group of folks talking to the tooth fairy, we’re a believing group of people,” Spitsbergen said.
Spitsbergen expects a ruling at the end of the month and plans to take the case to the Supreme Court.
San Diego City Councilmember Chris Cate proposed outdoor worship space as an option for churches that Mayor Kevin Faulconer recently signed as an executive order.
“I think a lot of them have felt left out, and oftentimes in a bureaucratic setting, it’s easy for us to say no for whatever reason, now, is our opportunity to look at how do we get to yes and how do we provide these creative outlets, but be able to do it so in a safe manner,” said Cate, whose over San Diego’s sixth district.
Cate says the Mayor’s office has not yet opened up city parks in the way the City of Poway has for churches, but for the time being places of worship can hold services in their parking lots or apply permits to use a nearby driveway or public right-of-way. He says the permits are being expedited, and 133 applications got approved in one week for businesses.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond says as a county, we haven’t really taken a position on places of worship other than following the Governor’s orders.
“I was actually pushing at the county to have or allow indoor church services be at social distancing capacity, so families could sit together, I think we need places of worship now more than ever, we’re going to have a lot of mental health issues due to the virus, and these are places people can go for spiritual guidance,” said Desmond, who represents the county’s fifth district.
Desmond says there have been some double standards regarding ever-changing public health orders.
“We've allowed the first amendment rights of the freedom of assembly, but the freedom of religion is also a part of that first amendment as well, but it doesn't seem to hold the same weight,” Desmond said.