Red ribbons mark the pews that have been cordoned off in the King’s College Chapel, where weekday Masses resumed on Thursday.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
Mass resumes in King’s College Chapel, with restrictions
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The Rev. Jarrod Waugh, wearing a face mask, blesses the worshippers who came to the 12:05 p.m. Mass on Thursday in the King’s College Chapel.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
Lines on the floor are 6 feet apart, to remind people to keep social distance as they walk toward the altar at the end of Mass to receive communion. Guidelines tell members of the congregation they must wear a mask for the entire celebration fo the Eucharist, except for the reception of Holy Communion.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — There were smiles, behind masks.
A few tears were glistening, too.
Best of all, there was Holy Communion.
For the dozen worshippers who gathered for weekday Mass shortly after noon on Thursday in the Chapel of Christ the King at King’s College in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, being able to receive the Eucharist after 11 weeks without it, satisfied a kind of hunger.
“I’d been watching Mass one way or another, on my laptop,” Patrice Rembish of Wilkes-Barre said, explaining how she’d kept in touch with the liturgy during the time of no public Masses in the Diocese of Scranton, which started March 16. “But it’s not the same.”
“It’s nice to see familiar faces again, too,” said Nick Mirigliani of Swoyersville who, like Rembish, had been a regular attendee at King’s Chapel before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
For the Rev. Jarrod Waugh CSC, celebrating Thursday’s Mass was especially poignant.
“In many ways it felt as if it was my first Mass again,” he said, thinking back to his ordination. “You could hear me get choked up a little bit,” he said, adding he felt “almost indescribably” happy.
Now that Luzerne County has moved into the more relaxed, yellow phase of coronavirus guidelines, in-person worship services are allowed — with safety guidelnes such as the wearing of masks, staying 6 feet apart, and having a designated entrance and exit.
For now, King’s College has resumed Monday through Friday celebrations of the Mass at 12:05 p.m. in the chapel, which is on North Street. The college won’t be celebrating weekend Masses during the summer.
King’s College urges anyone thinking of attending the weekday Masses to read the safety protocols that are in place. They are available on the college website, kings.edu., via the COVID-19 information link.