Coronavirus Update: Worshipers Seek Comfort In Faith While Spending Easter Weekend Apart
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The holiest weekend on the Christian calendar this year will be spent in quarantine.
Worshipers turned to social media for Good Friday mass and will do so again for Easter Sunday.
Holy hymns still echoed throughout Catholic churches on Good Friday.
Even with those churches empty, priests like Father Richard Beuther, of St. Bartholomew's in Elmhurst, Queens, are using live streams to connect with members in this time of quarantine.
During his homily, he offered a heartbreaking update.
"We've lost perhaps 15 parishioners here at St. Bartholomew," he said.
Prayer is more important than ever.
"I do think that in these desperate and lonely times, people do trust in faith and rely on their faith to get them through difficult moments," Beuther told CBS2's Jessica Layton.
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Even in isolation, there are uplifting signs of the holiday everywhere -- from simple decorations on doors to the sweetness of two sisters who have been stuffing essentials into baskets for the elderly.
Members of one Christian church in New Jersey put on masks and swapped candy for Clorox, delivering emergency supplies to seniors.
"God will provide, but he usually does it through our own noggins, our own consciences and the good people around us," Timothy Cardinal Dolan said.
Watch: Timothy Cardinal Dolan Extended Good Friday Interview --
The Archbishop of New York says even if you're experiencing emptiness, there is hope.
"God always wants to fill our emptiness with his life, his light, his love, his mercy, his goodness," he said.
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He also talked about all the empty tables there will be at Easter this year and how that will be difficult. We are reminded when it comes to social distancing, there can be no exceptions.
"Staying apart this year is the surest way we'll be able to gather again next Easter and the many Easters to come," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said.
"I'm really looking forward to filling the church again," Beuther said.
An optimistic outlook this Easter weekend that there are better times ahead.
