By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander is calling for more communication with authorities so the church can make better informed decisions during the coronavirus pandemic.

His comments come after Mount Tabor Church immediately suspended in-person church gatherings after a surge in COVID-10 infections. While church officials say they have no information of church members testing positive for COVID-19, they explained in a press release that the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution and care”.

The church’s administrative office will remain open throughout the week. Funerals and weddings will be facilitated in accordance with the government’s safety protocols.

Bishop Fernander told The Tribune the council realises the recent flattening of the curve has led to a lack of communication between the government and church leaders in recent weeks. He said churches should be informed if there is a community spread in a certain areas.

He said: “It is useless to tell us there are …(a number of) cases in Grand Bahama. We need to know where. We need to speak to those congregations. We need to speak to that jurisdiction, so that they can know we need to step up our protocols because particularly in these areas we have an uptick and we have people in quarantine.

“We knew that there would be opening and closing, but we’re just saying that we need the information so we could reduce or prevent. It cannot be just a government problem, it’s a society problem and the church is a major part of the society.”

Meanwhile, retired Anglican Archdeacon James Palacious said churches should continue the protocols currently being practised as he feels they have been working.

“Well the same things that we were doing before just be careful, exercise the protocol, limit the number of persons in church, limit the contact between members. Don’t forget now that has been working for you know 11 weeks or however many weeks,” he said.

“If there is one thing we agree on as a country it is that we open up prematurely and the opening up of the borders has caused the surge. Just about everybody has agreed on that one thing. So if we could just continue to do what we were doing and it should be okay. On the other hand, if there are people that are fearful that even with those protocols in place that you would want to curtail direct services then I could understand as well.”

As for Mount Tabor, Archdeacon Palacious said it was wise for the church to suspend services from the perspective that it is believed that social gatherings like church worship could be the source of a spread.

He added: “It doesn’t mean that others should necessarily follow suit if they do not share the same kind of fear of a surge because of church gatherings, but I could fully understand and appreciate why he thinks so. On the other hand, I could see why others would just say ‘well we are fine if we continue with our protocols then it shouldn’t be a problem.’”