NEW YORK (AP) — The paths of two New York City churches diverged this week — one reopened and one stayed closed. But they have shared a tragic fate, together losing at least 134 members of their mostly Hispanic congregations to the coronavirus.
Saint Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church in Queens, where at least 74 parishioners have died from COVID-19, on Monday hosted its first large-scale in-person services since mid-March: an English-language midday Mass and a Spanish one in the evening. At Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan, with a death toll nearly as high, the pastors say it’s too risky to open any time soon.
In Saint Bartholomew’s, which normally can hold 800 people, every other row of pews was roped off to facilitate social distancing as about 60 worshippers attended the English service. Except for an infant, all wore face masks.
