First Time Back in Church Since COVID-19 [GALLERY]

With the governor allowing churches to reopen their doors for inside services at limited capacity, Chris and I finally got a chance to go back to our church for the first time since the middle of March.

Chris and I belong to Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Endicott, across from En-Joie Golf Club. We've been watching the church services online until this week. And even though that was better than nothing, it just isn’t the same.

The church had every other pew roped-off to keep people separated it by 6 feet, and they used closed circuit television, not just two stream the mass online, but also to be shown in the church's adjacent gymnasium. The gym was also set up with chairs being more than 6 feet apart to comply with social distancing regulations, and to handle the overflow from the church.

Our priest, Father Michael Galuppi, and our Deacon, Tom Harley, both commented on how nice it was to actually have people in the church for a change. Father Michael greeted the crowd by saying how happy he was that he would actually be able to hear the people's responses during mass instead of just staring into a camera and not hearing any of the congregation.

There were probably 90 people at church all wearing masks. There was still additional seating in the church, so none of the parishioners sat in the gym. I think as weeks go on, more and more people will feel more comfortable attending their place of worship in person.

Chris and I were both grateful that we were able to attend mass in person because it made it feel like things are finally starting to get back to normal.