I attending morning mass at my local church this morning. This is the third time I’ve been back since places of worship were allowed to reopen 4 weeks ago. I tried to go last week too, but they cancelled the 5 p.m. service due to the past two week’s low attendance and of course I forgot to check their web site on that Saturday, so I drove into the parking lot, saw that it was empty and drove right back out…but at least I drove my car! And I tried to attend mass, I get points somewhere for that, right??
So I go yesterday and they’re very serious about social distancing, wearing a mask and using hand sanitizer. Every other pew is blocked off, there is only one entrance and two exits, there’s hand sanitizer right when you walk in and plenty of signage. The priest makes an announcement at both the beginning of the service and again at the end — they’re making every possible effort to make going to church a safe experience.
Why then did the family sitting four pews in front of me keep taking off their darn masks?? There was a father and mother, their four teenaged and adult children, a spouse of one of the adult children and their young child — they took up the entire pew. The dad took his mask off one ear and let it dangle from the other ear — he changed ears halfway through the service. One of the adult children had his mask only covering his mouth, another had pulled his mask so it was below his chin (but the loops still on both ears!), even the small child pulled the mask below his nose. And how do I know this? Because the whole family kept turning their heads and looking all over the church, so everyone could tell they weren’t wearing their masks correctly.
So why did they even bother with the masks if they weren’t going to wear them the right way? I’m not sure I get the point. Were they trying to show all of us that they are healthy and don’t have the coronavirus??
Unfortunately for me, I was so distracted by them and their various stages of mask wearing that I didn’t pay attention to the service and got zero out of it. But at least I showed up at the right time this week!
Oh, and that family — two of them exited the church out the entrance only door…
Notes from a Self Quarantine 