Dear People, Neighbours, and Friends of St. Thomas’s,
I was very much looking forward to writing a letter on the history of the Nicene Creed in the Eucharistic liturgy of the Latin West, with special reference to the Anglican tradition. I was planning a lighthearted romp through schism and heresy, two of my favourite topics. Instead, it is my solemn duty to report to you that an in-person attendee at the 9:30 Mass this past Sunday reported a positive COVID-19 test. The wardens and I are providing this information so that you may make an informed decision if you are considering joining us in person.
We received this news on Wednesday morning, and your wardens took immediate action to contact Toronto Public Health (TPH) to determine our obligations and responsibilities. Before I detail those, you should know that this parishioner had been fully vaccinated and was scrupulous about maintaining masking, hand sanitizing, and social distancing. To our knowledge, the parishioner did not interact with anyone at the service for more than a few minutes.
Following the advice of TPH, we contacted the twenty other parishioners and staff members who pre-registered for the service or were registered at the door, confident that we had missed no one known to be present in the building at the time. On Sunday, Eli McNeilly came in as usual following the 9:30 service and sanitized all high-contact surfaces, including the pews. Upon learning of the case this past week, even though he had already sanitized the church following the 11 o’clock service that Sunday, Eli took the initiative to treat the church and other areas thoroughly again.
Several of the attendees, including both clergy who were present, have since been tested. All reported results have come back negative (including my own), and I trust that had anyone tested positive between then and this writing, that person would have reported it confidentially to us, or TPH would have been notified and contacted us.
When TPH did call me on Thursday afternoon, the official was so impressed by the diligent response of the staff and wardens of St. Thomas’s that they indicated that the extensive paperwork they had emailed me to complete did not in fact need to be filled out, since we had already provided the necessary information before they even had a chance to ask for it. I commend our sidesperson on duty, Sr. Gail Fox, for her due diligence that morning, which made it possible for TPH to conduct a thorough investigation.
Diocesan Developments in Policy
Related to the above, as announced on Tuesday in a pastoral letter from Bishop Andrew Asbil, the Diocese is introducing a policy that requires clergy, employees, and volunteers to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19. The full policy is now available on the diocesan website.
While all clergy, employees, and volunteers will be required to show proof of vaccination, proof of vaccination will not be required to attend in-person worship. Bp. Asbil writes, “I’ve heard that some of you aren’t comfortable returning to in-person worship alongside potentially unvaccinated people, and I know this may disappoint you. We believe we can preserve the health and safety of our communities without denying access to worship, prayer and sacrament. We want our churches to be places where everyone can experience the breadth and length and depth and height of God’s love…”
I understand that some among us struggle with resentment that not everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated has in fact chosen to be vaccinated. This pandemic continues to inflict damage on our physical, spiritual, mental, and economic health; it is easy to resent anything that seems to prolong it. Indeed, it is absolutely essential that every one of us does what we can to end it. I join the Bishop in calling on those who are vaccine hesitant to heed the advice of public health professionals.
But I also agree with the Bishop that public worship must be public, open to all. We must resist the urge to scapegoat anyone, to exclude anyone. In the church there are no outcasts, and the temptation to divide the church into “us” and “them” comes in myriad forms. But from the witness of Jesus in the Gospels in his ministry to lepers, to the heroism of clergy, laity, and religious in responding to the victims of the Bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, and the AIDS crisis, we have learned that the Church exists for the marginalized, whether “we” consider “them” personally responsible for their condition or not. As many of the Saints themselves have taught, the Church is a hospital for sinners, not a club for saints.
Concluding Reflections
Vaccinated or not, if you do decide to absent yourself from church for any reason, please be assured the clergy are willing and able to bring the Sacrament to you.
Bear in mind that any time minors under the age of twelve are present in church, we will have unvaccinated attendees. Some people are not eligible for the vaccines or have other reasons for not being vaccinated at this time that the public health officials themselves accept as valid. Based on these considerations and others, the real question is not whether it is safer to worship with a “mixed multitude” than a congregation that is known to be up to one’s own standards, whatever those standards may be, but whether gathering to worship God in the beauty of holiness is worth the risk to which we necessarily expose ourselves even when one scrupulously observes all precautions.
Doctors and public health officials at this point are saying that by now it is highly likely that we have all been exposed to the virus, some of us multiple times, including the Delta variant. What determines infection is duration and intensity. And, for the record, it is unknown as of this writing whether our parishioner was exposed to the Delta variant or not. The only symptoms our parishioner experienced were a slightly itchy throat and nasal congestion, no different from seasonal allergies or a late summer cold. The fact that this person was fully vaccinated almost certainly contributed to the mildness of the case, so the basic question of the level of risk to which we are willing to expose ourselves and our loved ones is ultimately unanswerable, because there is no way to measure the true risk of attending any given Sunday church service, going to the grocery store on a Monday at three o’clock, or getting one’s haircut on a Saturday. What statistics exist are extrapolations and are of limited use in guiding our decisions. We never know which car trip will result in a collision, or whether the airplane we board will land safely or not.
In short, life is risky, and life is short. Sometimes it is nasty, brutish, and short, as we have learned to our great sorrow. The only thing we can do is exercise our judgement, informed by the most reliable facts available to us at any given time. And pray. As I’ve written in recent weeks, even when we take every conceivable initiative, prayer is always both the least we can do and the most we can do.
This side of heaven, we will always face dilemmas. But as Jesus says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b).
I hope to see you in church soon, when you’re ready. And if I don’t, I hope you will join us by livestream. As with everything, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to be in touch with me via frhumphrey@stthomas.on.ca or 647-947-6442.
Yours in Christ’s service,
N.J.A. Humphrey+
VIII Rector