Churches within the Diocese of London, including those in Windsor-Essex, are still not ready to reopen.
The Diocese is still working with its parishes on their reopening plans, after the province announced earlier this week that churches could begin holding services again as part of Stage 2 of Ontario's economic reopening plan.
Senior Communications Specialist Matthew Clarke, says for this weekend, there will be no masses in any churches in the Diocese.
"Unfortunately we just won't have time to get the buildings ready and get our seating plans laid out in order to resume worship safely," he says.
The Diocese suspended all masses and services in mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the province will allow churches to reopen at 30 per cent capacity beginning this Friday.
This also applies to Windsor-Essex, despite being left out of the province’s regional approach to stage two of reopening.
Clarke says parishes are still working on their safety measures along with seating plans.
"The Bishop just issued some directives to have every parish look at the layout of their church, and begin marking it out with 30 per cent capacity in mind, and then making sure that families and individuals are seated with the appropriate distancing in the church," he says.
Clarke says if the 30 per cent capacity is reached, parishioners will be turned away so the limit is not exceeded.
"We're definitely going to look at adding masses, if that's what's required for that particular parish in order to make sure everybody has a chance to attend the mass, that is something that could be offered," he says.
While services are allowed to resume, Clarke wants parishioners to know there will be some differences as part of COVID-19 restrictions and safety measures.
"We're omitting the sign of peace, you can just do a bow or a nod instead of the shaking of the hands," he says. "Then for the distribution of communion, communion from the cup will be suspended until further notice and the we're changing the procedures for the distribution of the host."
Clarke says the Diocese will release more details on its reopening plans within the next few days.
He says parishes will continue with online and Facebook Live masses, even though the doors are reopening at churches.
According to the Diocese of London website, the organization serves approximately 450,000 Catholics across Southwestern Ontario, which includes Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent.