Kentucky churches look towards future of worship with new CDC guidelines

OWENSBORO, Ky. (WFIE) - Kentucky churches are looking towards the future of worship in the pandemic.

With the latest guidance from the CDC and Governor Beshear, churches now finding themselves in a position to decide if masks are still needed by parishioners.

“Hey, I’m ready to take mine off,” said Joan Hayden, a churchgoer.

Churchgoers are ready for services to get back to normal. This is after the CDC cleared fully vaccinated people to ditch their masks completely.

“No one wants to be the police except the police, and we’re grateful for them. But no, we’re not going to be checking vaccine cards. I trust people,” explained Bishop William Medley Roman of the Catholic Diocese of Owensboro.

68-year-old Joan Hayden is fully vaccinated. She says people leaving the mask at home doesn’t bother her.

“I’m very active in our community, very active everywhere and on a lot of boards, so I’m out and going all the time,” said Hayden.

The Diocese of Owensboro says they’re pushing for people to get their shot. Those still not comfortable coming to mass can watch online.

“My hope and expectation is churches have invested a great deal in equipment needed to offer the online services. I think most of them will continue to do that specifically for those populations of people who are homebound and cannot come to church,” said Medley.

The Bishop says he’s meeting with other bishops this week, discussing what other restrictions can relax.

“We have not been giving communion from the chalice for over a year. Some people prefer to receive the communion host on their tongue rather than their hand. We’ll be revisiting that and try and pair our policies up with the best medical and scientific advice that we can give,” explained Medley.

Meanwhile, we reached out to other Owensboro churches to see what their new guidelines will be. Many say they are having meetings this week to figure out where to go from here.

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