The threat of COVID-19 has changed how the country operates, including the many religious denominations and how they will handle worship during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday — the most important holiday on the Christian calendar.

In Centre County, many churches have already canceled Easter services altogether, while others will forge forward, using technology and out-of-the-ordinary means to deliver their messages on Sunday, April 12.

Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in State College will live stream a meditation on the seven last words of Christ, followed by a rosary, at 7 p.m. on Good Friday on Facebook.

Easter Sunday mass will be broadcast locally on 1450 AM and 103.7 FM, according to OLV’s website.

Father George Jakopac from St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Bellefonte said in a letter to his parishioners that all services must remain canceled. The priest will be saying the rites privately for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. On its website, the church has instructions for fasting and abstinence and also a list of readings for Holy Week.

Masses in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown had already been suspended in March and on April 1, Bishop Mark Bartchak ordered all church buildings to be locked and prohibited any masses or events on parish grounds or elsewhere. Mass with Bartchak is broadcast at 9 a.m. on Sundays on WATM ABC 23.

Faith United Methodist Church, on Hughes Street in Bellefonte, is planning to live-stream its two Easter services with a traditional worship with hymns at 8:15 a.m. and the modern worship service with the congregation band at 10:45 a.m. Both can be seen live at facebook.com/bellefontefaith.

Holy Week will include the Maundy Thursday gathering, which will be live-streamed at 7 p.m. and the church requests households utilize their own bread, crackers, juice or wine for communion; The Good Friday Tenebrae Service will be live-streamed at 7 p.m. on Facebook, as will the Easter Sunday worship gatherings.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on East College Avenue in State College has been streaming worship services online as well. For Holy Week,a guided meditation will be emailed to congregation members centered around gathering at the table to be shared with family and friends on the phone or alone. For good Friday, Pastor Becky McGee plans to share a video worship guiding those watching through scripture readings related to the final moments of Jesus’ life.

Pastor Greg Milinovich will use Facebook Live for Easter sunrise services. Information about the services was emailed to the congregation.

“Then we will share a link with the whole church as well as some others, including a church in Chicago who is worshiping with us,” said Pastor Milinovich. “We will have a service complete with hymns, a brass ensemble and a message to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.”

Saint John’s Episcopal Church on Lamb Street in Bellefonte will also live-stream services during Holy Week.

According to Father Carlos de la Torre, the service schedule includes Maundy Thursday at 7 p.m.; Good Friday at noon; Holy Saturday at 8 p.m.; and Easter Day services at 10 a.m. These services can be found on the church’s Facebook page.

Pastor Doug Conway at Trinity United Methodist Church on Howard Street in Bellefonte said the church is staying in touch with congregation members through the church’s Facebook page, in phone calls and texts and through prayers and faithful stewardship.

“In response to COVID-19 and in support of all health care workers, first responders, essential workers and those who are sick or have lost jobs during the pandemic, Trinity Bellefonte will ring its church bells daily at 12 noon.”

Holy Thursday and Good Friday services will be streamed at 7 p.m. each night on Facebook and Easter Sunday worship will be streamed at 10 a.m.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on West Foster Avenue in State College, which is incorporating Zoom and Facebook to live-stream each service.

The church is using its Zoom account to share its Bible study, “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” led by Ted Christoper, at 9:05 a.m. each day through Saturday, and the Good Friday Lectio Divina service at 6 p.m.

Through Facebook, Father Jeff Packard and his family will celebrate Maundy Thursday Eucharist with foot washing in the church. Congregation members can participate in the service live on Facebook at 6 p.m.

Other Facebook services for St. Andrew’s include an Easter Vigil at 7 p.m. Saturday and Holy Eucharist for Easter at 10 a.m. Sunday. Congregation members will be able to download a leaflet for the program in advance.

The Good Shepherd Church in Bellefonte, at 402 Willowbank St., held its Palm Sunday Service on Zoom and plans to do the same for Easter Sunday at 10:15 a.m.

St. John Lutheran Church on McAllister Street in Bellefonte held a Palm Sunday service on Facebook. The church provided bulletins that could be printed out ahead of the service. A playlist of Easter hymns was made available on the church’s Facebook page.

St. John’s also used Facebook for online written or recorded devotions, which were posted to the page Monday and Tuesday. Upcoming Facebook services include Maundy Thursday services at 6:30 p.m., Good Friday services (The Seven Last Words) at 7 p.m., and the Easter service (Resurrection of our Lord) at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

Grace Lutheran Church on South Garner Street in State College is also using online features for its Holy Week services.

Pastors Scott E. Schul and Carolyn K. Hetrick provided services over Zoom for evening prayers and for Palm Sunday. They will post instructions and links on the church’s website, as well as their Facebook page, for the rest of Holy Week. They plan Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday service.

Easter Sunday worship also will be broadcast on WRSC AM 1390 and FM 93.3 at 10:30 a.m.

Call (814) 238-2478 for more information or check the church’s Facebook page.

Calvary Church in Boalsburg will have multiple online Easter services on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. See live.calvarysc.org for the full schedule.

Watermarke Church in Bellefonte will hold a drive-in Easter Sunday church at 1680 Zion Road, in the Drayer parking lot. See more details below.

Congregation Brit Shalom on East Hamilton Street in State College is live-streaming Shabbat services through Zoom at 7 p.m. each Friday. It is also providing congregation members a prayer book via PDF file.

Several local congregations did not respond to The Centre County Gazette’s inquiry concerning their Holy Week services. For updates, check the church’s website or Facebook page. Most are streaming in some manner and all are attempting to give their parishioners meaningful worship experiences until they can gather in one building again.

-StateCollege.com’s Geoff Rushton contributed to this report.

Watermarke Church to hold drive-in service

By Vincent Corso

BELLEFONTE – In a time when people may need their faith more than ever, church gatherings are prohibited due to social distancing. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, gathering together has been put on hold and churches are finding ways to share their message and community online. But, in order to celebrate the most important day on the church calendar, Watermarke Church, in Bellefonte, has found a way to gather within the guidelines of social distancing, with a drive-in church service at 10 a.m. this Easter Sunday.

“The first experience I had with a drive-in church service was in Florida when I was a college student about 30 years ago,” said Pastor Tim Yates. “Back then, the purpose was to appeal to those who felt uncomfortable about coming into a church building. It was a unique idea that had moderate success, but I hadn’t given much thought to it over the years. The northern climate did not seem to offer much of a window of opportunity for such a ministry.”

“When we saw that other churches around the country had already been offering drive-in services, we saw it as a unique solution to a unique time in our community’s history,” said Yates. “Relationships are at the very core of Christianity; both the vertical relationship we have with God and the horizontal relationships we have with others. So, it has been challenging for Christians to practice those horizontal relationships with others in a time when social distancing guidelines keep us physically separated.”

And while Watermarke, like many other churches, has taken advantage of online streaming for Sunday services, video conferencing for meetings and Bible studies, and website and social media for communication, the community has missed gathering together.

“As helpful as these platforms are, they cannot replace the kind of community we enjoy when we meet for the purpose of worship in the same time and space,” said Yates.

Watermarke Church normally meets in the Bellefonte Middle School auditorium so it has no building and no parking lot in which to meet. For the Easter drive-in, the church has received permission to meet in the parking lot of Drayer Physical Therapy at 1680 Zion Road, Bellefonte.

The church will be keeping the health and safety of all involved in the front of everyone’s mind. With a flatbed trailer set up as a stage, the service will be broadcast on a low-frequency FM transmitter that will allow people to hear the stage on their car radios. Song lyrics will be provided electronically on the church website and can either be printed at home beforehand, or accessed on a cellular device upon arrival.

“The service will provide many of the elements of a normal Watermarke worship service, just without the closer physical proximity we’ve been instructed to avoid,” said Yates. “Singing, prayers, a message and communion will be observed. Our wonderful Splash Children’s Ministry will even be trying out an Easter activity for the kids, which includes an in-car Eye Spy Easter hunt, immediately following the service.”

Yates said social distancing guidelines will be maintained amongst all the volunteers.

“Even our worship band is a family unit, so they all come from the same household. Those attending are being asked to bring their own bread and grape juice to partake of communion. However, individual, factory-sealed communion elements will be provided to those who need them.” He said servers will be wearing sanitary gloves.

There are no restrooms on site so Yates is asking everyone to make sure people come prepared and use the restroom before they arrive, especially younger church members.

He said faith is important in a time like this, and he is using the message of his church to help his congregation.

“This belief in Jesus not only teaches us how to face death, it teaches us how to face life,” said Yates. “Even life in a strange new world where the rules have changed, where hope is sometimes difficult to find and where Easter can be celebrated even in the middle of a parking lot.”