Even though he can't be with them, Father Dan Walsh of Holy Trinity R.C. Church encourages his congregation in a creative way. According to his shirt, "Wash your hands and say your prayers 'cause Jesus and germs are everywhere! Coronavirus 24:7." OBSERVER Photo by Mary Heyl.

For Family Church Fredonia, next Sunday would have been the first Easter celebrated in their recently remodeled building at 19 Church St. For over a year, the building was closed due to the May 2018 steeple fire, but in September, Pastor Michael Lokietek and Associate Pastor Scott Wise welcomed the congregation back. “It’s sad that we can’t celebrate Easter here, but everyone else is in the same boat,” Wise told the OBSERVER in a phone interview on Thursday.

Churches across the country have had to close their doors to the public and shift their services online. This week, many area churches are celebrating Holy Week and Easter Sunday in some very special — even unconventional — ways as they seek to bring their congregations together in fellowship while also maintaining social distancing.

“This Sunday, Palm Sunday, Family Church Fredonia is launching ‘cruise-in church,'” Wise told the OBSERVER. “We’re going to have an FM transmitter in the church broadcasting a signal and folks can come down and park around Barker Common and the area and tune in to 87.9 FM. Our plan right now is to do this every Sunday moving forward.”

Wise is excited to share this news with the congregation and the community, who may even be able to listen from their homes. “The range is pretty great: a lot of downtown Fredonia can hear it,” he said. “But we’re encouraging people to get out of the house, while still being safe. We’re not asking anyone to get out of their vehicles, but it’s good to see each others’ faces.”

Those who do drive to Barker Common will be able to see Pastor Lokietek preaching on the front steps of the church. Inside, the music director will begin the service with a couple of songs. Wise explained that Family Church is planning to have services like this every week until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. All services will be livestreamed on Family Church Fredonia’s Facebook page.

Churches across the country are empty, save a few staff members who are livestreaming music and sermons through their social media pages. Pictured here are members of Harvest Chapel Free Methodist Church's worship team, who will be sharing music as part of the 10 a.m. Easter Sunday service to be livestreamed on the church's Facebook page.

Lake Shore Chapel on Route 20 in Fredonia is also hosting a drive-in Easter Sunday service through an FM transmitter. “People can stay in their car, but still see the pastor and hear the message,” Byron Lutz told the OBSERVER. “The people inside doing the music are all one family, which keeps them compliant. Everyone else will stay in their cars.”

Members can even share prayer requests, as ushers will be wearing protective gear to collect them from vehicles in stainless steel baskets. “We have an older congregation,” Lutz explained. “We’re just trying to keep everyone safe and meet a social need, while complying with what’s being required of us.”

At Christ Community Church on Berry Road in Fredonia, services are available via livestream on Facebook and archived for viewing at any time. Interim Pastor Al Detter told the OBSERVER, “We’ve had an amazing number of views — over 1,000 each week. We’re going forward with that each week. It includes our band and my sermon.”

Detter said that since Palm Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, he will be including virtual communion as part of the livestream service, and a video will be added for Easter Sunday. “We believe that we’re going to be in this mode for the long haul,” Detter said. “We don’t expect to be back together before June.”

At Harvest Chapel Free Methodist Church, services are livestreamed on their Facebook page at 10 a.m. every Sunday, which is followed by a children’s moment with Pastor Lisa. Connections Pastor Nate Lesher told the OBSERVER, “During Holy Week, we will also be offering a Good Friday service online at 7 p.m. We will read Scripture, pray and ask participants to make their own arrangements for communion at home with some bread and water or juice elements.”

On Easter Sunday, Harvest Chapel will continue to offer their online service at 10 a.m. via Facebook Live. “We aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary, but there may be some creative ways we can tell the story of Jesus,” Lesher said. “We will also have people share a photo of their Easter outfits on our Facebook and Instagram pages.” Lesher said that their services have also been streaming for the residents at Fredonia Place. Harvest Chapel continues to offer a worship and prayer time on Facebook every Wednesday at 7 p.m.

“It’s true, Easter won’t look like last year,” Lesher admitted. “But we still get to share the amazing story of our Savior’s love and power with an audience who may be more receptive to hear it. For Easter 2020, methods may change, but so will hearts.”

Communications Assistant Kate Hinds Morrison said that Fredonia First United Methodist Church will be livestreaming their Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services on Facebook at 10 a.m., which is their usual service time. “Palm Sunday will be our first week of doing it this way,” said Morrison. “I would foresee this continuing past Palm and Easter Sundays if that’s what we need to do to keep each other safe and healthy. As challenging a time as this is, we truly are blessed that technology still gives us the ability to stay connected. Easter is such a wonderful, special time for Christians to connect, no matter how far apart we need to stay right now.”

Park United Methodist Church, which has two campuses in Cassadaga and Sinclairville, has been livestreaming their services on Facebook. Lead Pastor Joe Pascoe told the OBSERVER that Holy Week includes Maundy Thursday and Good Friday online services at 7 p.m. On Easter Sunday, the church will live stream an Easter Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m. and an Easter service at 10 a.m. Visit www.parkumc.org for links to the church’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

First Baptist of Dunkirk has been offering services online with a live video feed on Facebook and also on YouTube. Pastor Mark Massaro told the OBSERVER, “This past week, it seemed like so many churches were on Facebook Sunday morning that things started getting really slow and choppy. We’re going to record our Palm Sunday service this morning and then have a watch party on Facebook with a live chat.”

On Good Friday at 6 p.m., the church will have a live communion service. Massaro encourages viewers to get their unleavened bread and grape juice ahead of time for the service. While Sunday morning services are usually at 9:30 a.m., Massaro said the Facebook live Easter Sunday service is at 10 a.m.

“We’re using Zoom on Wednesday nights to have live prayer meeting time,” he added. “It’s really encouraging to see people again, even if it’s online. … Some of our snowbirds in Arizona and Florida have commented that they’ve enjoyed the service and feel they’re still with us, even far away. That’s been something good that’s come out of this. Even next winter with snowy days, we could use this technology.”

Ministry at First Baptist continues in many forms, as Massaro and his staff have been calling congregation members to help them use various technologies to access church services. In addition to the congregation, Massaro said the church offers its neighbors and community members help with grocery and prescription pick-ups and deliveries. To learn more and connect to First Baptist online, visit dunkirkbaptist.org.

Per instructions from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, Father Dan Walsh of Holy Trinity R.C. Church and Father Joe Walter of St. Anthony’s and St. Joseph’s R.C. churches said that no public masses are being held. Rather, Walsh and Walter are continuing to hold daily private masses.

In a phone interview on Friday, Walter told the OBSERVER, “I miss my people. I love to give them the Eucharist because I believe that it’s the best thing that you can give to another human being. I love to celebrate mass with my people!” While he regrets that he can’t be with his congregations on Good Friday or Easter Sunday, he said that during Holy Week, it’s important to keep things in perspective.

“Mother Theresa said you should never let anything sadden you so that you don’t have the joy of risen Christ in you. We’re sad that we can’t celebrate Easter together, but we have so much to be grateful for and joyful about. God’s blessings are way bigger than what we’re going through.”

Holy Trinity’s Sunday masses continue to broadcast live on WDOE 94.9 FM at 8:30 a.m., and listeners can tune in on Easter Sunday. Walsh, too, said he misses his people but is focused on the silver lining. “God is at work today in our lives, pushing us beyond ourselves, stretching our presumed thinking,” he told the OBSERVER. “We need occasional awakenings, renewals, interpreting of life as we know it.”

He noted that the coronavirus has affected everyone, in every aspect of life, and that faith is essential now more than ever. “Our house in on fire,” said Walsh. “Hopefully, we will get back to church, the synagogue or mosque. We can make this a positive experience. Money, government and medical hospitals are struggling. Prayer and God will help us.”

Regardless of one’s situation or physical limitations right now, each church leader emphasized that Holy Week and Easter Sunday can and should be celebrated, especially now. “Easter for us is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” said Wise. “That goes on whether we’re quarantined or not. … There’s fear on people’s faces right now. But to come out and know that there’s someone there worshipping in hope like you are is special. We need a chance to connect with people now more than ever.”