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| On this Pentecost, Christians who came to church were wary and grateful | On this Pentecost, Christians who came to church were wary and grateful |
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| Andre Kuhner and his family used to go to Mass every day. So when the Army logistics expert figured out Sunday morning that the Catholic Diocese of Arlington was reopening and that their 2½ -month Communion drought was over, he was like a shot out of a cannon. | Andre Kuhner and his family used to go to Mass every day. So when the Army logistics expert figured out Sunday morning that the Catholic Diocese of Arlington was reopening and that their 2½ -month Communion drought was over, he was like a shot out of a cannon. |
| “I ran around the house and said: ‘Get dressed, we’re going to Mass!’ ” he said Sunday, with his wife, Renata, and two young sons all beaming outside the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, where they’d just gone back to in-person services. It was the first time since March that they had received Communion, a rite Catholics in particular believe connects them to God. | “I ran around the house and said: ‘Get dressed, we’re going to Mass!’ ” he said Sunday, with his wife, Renata, and two young sons all beaming outside the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, where they’d just gone back to in-person services. It was the first time since March that they had received Communion, a rite Catholics in particular believe connects them to God. |
| “It’s been terrible,” Kuhner said. Virtual services “just aren’t the same.” | “It’s been terrible,” Kuhner said. Virtual services “just aren’t the same.” |
| Coronavirus restrictions lessened for congregations around the D.C. region this weekend, during a symbolic time on Jewish and Christian calendars. Jews were observing the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. | Coronavirus restrictions lessened for congregations around the D.C. region this weekend, during a symbolic time on Jewish and Christian calendars. Jews were observing the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. |
| For Christians, Sunday was Pentecost, which marks the end of the Easter season, when scripture teaches the Holy Spirit came; it’s often called the start of the Christian church. For some Christians, it’s a powerful and important day focused on renewal. | For Christians, Sunday was Pentecost, which marks the end of the Easter season, when scripture teaches the Holy Spirit came; it’s often called the start of the Christian church. For some Christians, it’s a powerful and important day focused on renewal. |
| The Kuhners heard a homily from Bishop Michael Burbidge about praying for spiritual power to strengthen, inspire and sanctify the Earth — in particular in the current time of pandemic isolation and death, and of racial tension and injustice. | The Kuhners heard a homily from Bishop Michael Burbidge about praying for spiritual power to strengthen, inspire and sanctify the Earth — in particular in the current time of pandemic isolation and death, and of racial tension and injustice. |
| “Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth. We ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit and renew our nation, especially at this time,” Burbidge said to the masked parishioners, citing the “brutal” killing of George Floyd, whose death after a police officer knelt on his neck in Minneapolis has sparked protests and anger nationwide. | “Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth. We ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit and renew our nation, especially at this time,” Burbidge said to the masked parishioners, citing the “brutal” killing of George Floyd, whose death after a police officer knelt on his neck in Minneapolis has sparked protests and anger nationwide. |
| “We denounce the abuse of power, so unbecoming and below the decency of our nation, as is violence and vandalism, which are making a tragic situation more difficult. I’ve asked all in the diocese to join in asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit so we can peacefully and justly address the root causes of injustices,” Burbidge preached. “Lord, send out your spirit.” | “We denounce the abuse of power, so unbecoming and below the decency of our nation, as is violence and vandalism, which are making a tragic situation more difficult. I’ve asked all in the diocese to join in asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit so we can peacefully and justly address the root causes of injustices,” Burbidge preached. “Lord, send out your spirit.” |
| Sparse church attendance in many places Sunday — and many congregations opting not to meet in person altogether — reflected the hesitance that remains about when and how to come back together. | Sparse church attendance in many places Sunday — and many congregations opting not to meet in person altogether — reflected the hesitance that remains about when and how to come back together. |
| The cathedral in Arlington was expecting some 350 people, a diocesan spokeswoman said; about 70 came, with people spread out like dots in the pews. | |
| Yet for those who were there, the feeling of knees on kneelers, the receiving of the Communion wafer in the hand, the experience of coming out into the Sunday sunshine after church on a holy day was still powerful. | |
| “It was refreshing and nice to be back, but I have a heavy heart that it’s not the same,” said Cathy Davis, principal of the parish school, who attended with her husband and brother — her first Communion since the virus outbreak. “Looking around and seeing little people with masks makes me sad.” | “It was refreshing and nice to be back, but I have a heavy heart that it’s not the same,” said Cathy Davis, principal of the parish school, who attended with her husband and brother — her first Communion since the virus outbreak. “Looking around and seeing little people with masks makes me sad.” |
| Davis said she hopes the shutdown will bring people back, eventually, renewed. | |
| “I hope we’ll all come back with a vengeance, that a tragedy of this magnitude will help people come back to faith, to see there is something larger,” she said. “That God will heal us.” | “I hope we’ll all come back with a vengeance, that a tragedy of this magnitude will help people come back to faith, to see there is something larger,” she said. “That God will heal us.” |
| Northern Virginia joined most of the rest of the state and parts of Maryland in allowing indoor services this weekend, so long as sanctuaries were no more than 50 percent full. In the District, congregations were still required to obey the same restrictions as private gatherings: no more than 10 people at a time. | |
| It was a Sunday when “getting dressed for church” suddenly seemed exciting and new. Worship spaces looked totally altered. | It was a Sunday when “getting dressed for church” suddenly seemed exciting and new. Worship spaces looked totally altered. |
| At St. Charles parish in Arlington, congregants sat not in the sanctuary, with its upholstered pews, but on easily cleanable plastic green chairs in the red-floored gym upstairs. | |
| In normal times, members of the young congregation are used to hanging out at Bible studies or over beer. During the shutdown, however, they have been connecting by working together to deliver food to 100 families from the parish — many Latino — who have lost work and been hit hard by the virus and its shutdown. | |
| On Sunday, they were ushered into St. Charles with the words: “Welcome back! Please take some hand sanitizer.” | |
| At the door was Alexander Hoffarth, an usher and attorney who lives alone and who, until Sunday, had been using the quarantine to mix up his worship — dropping in on virtual Masses from his hometown parish in Rochester, N.Y., from the college he attended in Boston and from other cities where he has worked and lived. He asked himself during quarantine more pointedly what it means to be a “Catholic” lawyer. | |
| “Everyone is yearning to get back to normal. We’re not able to do that for the foreseeable future,” Hoffarth said. “But if there is any time for the Holy Spirit to renew all of us in faith, now is the time, especially this week, and in these few months, that feel like 1918 and 1968 all mixed together.” | “Everyone is yearning to get back to normal. We’re not able to do that for the foreseeable future,” Hoffarth said. “But if there is any time for the Holy Spirit to renew all of us in faith, now is the time, especially this week, and in these few months, that feel like 1918 and 1968 all mixed together.” |