When Catholic churches nationwide reopened last summer after a months-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parishioners followed along empty handed, as the missals typically found at each pew were removed so people wouldn’t touch the same surfaces.
The doors swung open at St. Patrick’s Church at precisely 12 noon on May 26 and its pastor, Father Gerard Sauer, was there to greet the first parishioners entering the church to pray. It had been a long time since any of them had seen the inside of the church, which, like all churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn, had been shut since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio announced on May 22 that churches in Brooklyn and Queens can start to reopen on Tuesday, May 26, but with limitations.
