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Natick houses of worship will continue to love their neighbors at a distance

May 30, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this month revealed the state’s re-opening plan, which included a rough timeline along which organizations in various sectors might re-open. Up first were places of worship (up to 40% occupancy), which got the OK to welcome the faithful back beginning May 18. Natick’s religions houses, however, have been in no rush to re-fill those pews. They’re all still praying on it.

Despite the new guidelines, religious organizations in town are taking a cautious approach under advisement of each of their own committees as they study the situation carefully. Services and masses, which have been online for weeks now, will continue in that vein, while baptisms, weddings, and funerals will be managed on a case-by-case basis.

Temple Israel‘s Rabbi Daniel Lieben says, “Our plan is to re-open over time and with caution. Our primary concern is the safety of our community. The bulk of what we are doing will remain remote.”


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Temple Israel, Natick

The rabbi, like many religious leaders in Natick, says he’s been pleasantly surprised with the success he and his team have had in creating connectivity over Zoom meetings. “We’ve even had a bar mitzvah, and we were able to create a true experience.”

Still, he acknowledges the sense of loss that has come with the enforced separation. “People gather together in synagogue to pray as a community. It’s very important to be together, and the sense of loss runs deep. But people are coming together online because it is a way to connect.”

Milestone Church‘s Pastor Jay Mudd agrees that now is not the time to take COVID-related health concerns lightly. “We’re huggers at Milestone,” he says. “That’s just not going to work right now.”

Mudd notes that when services do resume, worship will look different than before. According to the Milestone website, “We will have to limit interaction and worship with only a handful of people in the room. Your overall worship experience will be much different than you expect.”

Day by day

Most church and synagogue offices are not staffed right at this time. A pastor or rabbi might stop in briefly to record a section of the upcoming online worship service. A bare-bones cleaning crew does the rounds of chores quickly and at a distance from one another. Phone calls either go to voicemail or are picked up by a staff member working from home.

When the buildings do re-open, expect to see masks on clergy and worshippers; plenty of sanitation supplies available from hand sanitizer to bleach wipes; and even plexiglass shields in some offices to protect staff as they interact with the public. All scenarios are currently up for discussion including traffic patterns throughout the spaces and a dismissal system that could look less like a meandering flock headed out in to the world and more like a military operation.

It seems likely that most sanctuaries will remain closed until fall, which could be the most sensible course given that attendance at Natick churches and synagogues already trends downward during the summer months. The closest to opening may be St. Patrick and St. Linus Churches. Weekly mass attendance is  a precept of the Catholic Church, although dispensation from the Sunday Mass obligation has been granted to the faithful for now. Church leadership at this time is working out a plan for resuming worship that will likely include a pre-registration process for a seat at mass and volunteer cleaning teams to take on the necessary sanitizing tasks.

Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot at Eliot Church (no relation to John Eliot, the missionary leader who founded the church in 1651) says, “We’re not going back until September at the earliest. What we do as a congregation is care for our members, so coming back and gathering isn’t a good idea right now.”

Eliot Church, Natick

Tierney-Eliot said although he knows it’s hard for people to remain apart, it’s necessary because “we love them and care about them. It’s like an extended snowstorm, in a way. We stay closed so that people will stay home. We stay closed for now to keep the community as a whole safe.”

The commandment has been delivered loud and clear: Love they neighbor as thyself — but do so at a distance.

MORE:

Where to worship online in Wellesley

Filed Under: Neighbors, Religion



Natick Public Schools staff salutes students with car parade

May 29, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

More than 80 members of the Natick Public Schools staff, escorted by Natick police and fire department crews, divided and conquered the town’s streets via 3 parade routes on Friday afternoon as a tribute to the Natick High School Class of 2020 and all students in the system.

This Friday would have been the commencement ceremony for Natick High, which now has other plans.

We caught the action near Lilja Elementary School.

Natick school parade

Natick school parade

Filed Under: Schools

Natick school parades will have you surrounded on Friday

May 29, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick High School, coronavirus

Get ready to celebrate the Natick High School Class of 2020 and the rest of the students on Friday from 2-3pm, as a series of 3 police-escorted car parades descend on town.

Dozens of Natick Public School staff will be driving the vehicles as a way to honor students, who will be among the onlookers. High school grads hope to have an in-person commencement ceremony on Aug. 6 if the health crisis allows.

Students, originally scheduled to have their graduation ceremony today,  this week were gifted with yard signs, caps & gowns.

Here’s the parade routes plan, which will no doubt go exactly as scheduled. The routes start at the high school, Wilson Middle School and the Cole Center.

Download (XLSX, 7KB)

Filed Under: Schools

Natick residents: What to do if you are a victim of unemployment claims fraud

May 28, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Natick Police Department this week has been hit up with more than a dozen reports by residents of identity theft in connection with fraudulent unemployment claims filings, a situation playing out across the country as a result of this scam taking advantage of new benefits for the many newly unemployed.

The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance has issued a press release about the scam that says criminals are exploiting personal information stolen in earlier national data breaches. The department has put in place additional security measures, which unfortunately for those collecting benefits legitimately could mean delays in their payments.

If you suspect you’ve become a victim of this scam, here’s what you should do, not in any particular order:

  • Use the Department of Unemployment Assistance fraud contact form or to call the DUA customer service department at 877-626-6800.
  • Contact the Natick Police Department at 508-647-9500. Due to the nature of this crime, online reporting is not available.

If you’re one of the unlucky ones and want to share your story with us, let us know: natickreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Police & crime

Natick Police can’t keep up with birthday drive-by demand

May 28, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick Police Department

Kids who received special drive-by birthday wishes from Natick Police officers in flashing cars in recent months should consider themselves especially lucky: The cops are putting an end to these special parades for now.

It’s not that they wouldn’t like to do more of them, but according to a Facebook post by the Natick Police Department: “the amount of requests have become unmanageable and our calls for service are increasing.” Presumably, as the state re-opens, the police are going to have more action than they’ve had during the stricter hunkering down period of the COVID-19 crisis.

“We have so enjoyed being able to provide birthday parades during the past few months. Seeing the smiles and feeling the love from our community has helped us immensely during these trying times,” NPD posted, along with a video from one recent parade.

One mom replied on the Facebook page: “This remains the highlight of our quarantine! We were the lucky recipients of this serenade, and we can’t thank NPD enough for taking the time to make our birthday boy’s day extra special.”

Filed Under: Kids, Police & crime

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