DES MOINES, Iowa — Churches are gearing up for their second Easter Sunday during the pandemic, and after not having a public mass last year, the Diocese of Des Moines is getting ready to welcome back more of its congregation and loosen some of its safety protocols.
"We're expanding seating capacities from 30 percent to 50 percent," Adam Storey, vice chancellor of the diocese, said.
With the expansion of seating capacities, restrictions on pews are being removed.
"Currently every other pew is blocked off," Story added. "Well now we're allowing all pews to be used."
However, churchgoers are still expected to social distance from others who aren't from the same household. And the diocese is allowing churches to begin filling up fonts, or containers that usually hold water, again.
"Holy water is, I think a beautiful sacramental, a beautiful way to enter more fully into the faith to remind ourselves of our baptism," Storey told Local 5. "And not having that for the past year is certainly something people have missed."
For people wanting to hear more of a full choir, the diocese is one step closer than before. Instead of just one singer, they are allowed to now have four or five singers.
The choir will be more than six feet away from the congregation. The decisions were made after consulting with various experts.
"We have a regathering team and then we have medical consultants who are local doctors," Storey said. "In speaking with them we thought it could be prudently done and we thought this is the right time to do it."
Masks are still required to be worn to enter the church, and if you are uncomfortable being around that many people, the different churches in the dioceses are still live-streaming masses.