Some churches frustrated they can't relax gathering rules by requiring vaccination

Some Island churches saythey're frustrated with P.E.I.'s Chief Public Health Office, which has told them they can't relax their gathering limits if they require vaccination.

Rev. Robert McCarthy, the minister at Kensington United Church, said he expected bringing in a Vax Pass would allow his church to dropphysical distancing between householdsand capacity rules, just as restaurants, theatresand other events have been able to do.

He was surprised when the public health office told him those rules wouldn't change.

"If it's OKfor the Harbourfront Theatre, and OK for the Cineplex Theatre, why can't it be OKfor Kensington United Church?" McCarthy said.

"I feel thatwe're put in a corner andleft behind as the rest of the province is moving forward, as businesses are more and more able to move towardbusiness the way it was before the pandemic."

Vax Pass for churches 'not recommended': CPHO

The public health office recently sent an email to faith organizations laying out its Vax Pass rulesafter receiving "inquiries from some faith groups," including KensingtonUnited Church andSpring Park United Church, which just made vaccination mandatory.

In the email, CPHOtold faith organizations it "recommends not implementing proof of vaccination requirements."

Dr. Heather Morrison, the province's Chief Public Health Officer, saysworship services weren't included in P.E.I.'sVax Pass programbecause the province considers them essential.

In an interview withCBC, Morrison suggested the province doesn't want to encourage churches to voluntarily make vaccinations mandatory, which mayexclude unvaccinated Islandersfrom an essential activity.

"For instance, if a grocery store decided to implement a Vax Pass, we would not want that to happenbecause people need to be able to go in and get groceries and that's very important," said Morrison.

"So I think it's important to maintain that there are certain areas that should be, from our perspective, not discretionary events."

McCarthy argues that by not allowing his church to relax its rules under mandatory vaccination, the province is actually excluding more people.

He said"very few" members of Kensington United Church are unvaccinated and wouldn't be able to attend services.

But physical distancing rules mean just 70 people can attend his church services. He saidservices this time of year would normally be far larger than that.

"Sowe're going to be turning away folks as we move forward.We might be excluding a few folks that are unvaxxed, but I think we're excluding more vaxxed folks, as we speak now," said McCarthy.

"I never thought I'd be telling people to not come to church, to not be part of the community. And it's the rules [that are] forcing us to make tough decisions."

Church gatherings riskier?

Morrison also pointed out that in some other provinces"there's been considerable outbreaks related to faith-based gatherings," which is another reason the public health officer won't drop physical distancing requirements, even for those requiring vaccination.

McCarthy said it still hasn't been made clear how the public health risks are greater at a church than a theatre, if both have vaccination requirements.

He's reached out to Kensington's MLA to share his concerns. He's also spoken to staff with some other churches abouthow to best make their casetogether.

"So we're continuing to ... make some noise and hopefully join together with other churches feeling the same way, that where the rules stand today, they're hurting us and not helping us."

More P.E.I. news