Current Summary for Indoor Worship

50% of capacity, wearing masks and maintaining social distance; no singing; bread only in Eucharist.

From the the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles

Distinction between worship and other gatherings

There is an important distinction between worship and other gatherings. Saturday evening or Sunday worship is a congregational community event where, for the most part, attendees are members of the congregation with a small number of guests. These worship services are conducted by a clergy person or lay leader and are prescribed.

Weddings and burials, while held within a congregational community, are more likely to have a larger number of guests who are not familiar with these protocols. For this reason, the protocols for weddings and burials are more similar to the protocols for gatherings than those for worship.

Group gatherings, on the other hand, are meetings and small groups such as vestry/bishop’s committee meetings, Bible studies, youth groups, board meetings, etc., and are less prescribed and more socially engaged than traditional worship.

Any gathering, whether for worship or other reasons, must not include any preparation or serving of food, unless it is food to go and is part of a ministry.

Guidelines for preparing to return to in-person worship

The following guidelines are provided by the Diocese of Los Angeles for its clergy and lay leaders preparing to resume in-person worship in their congregations.

Discerning Our Readiness to Resume Physical Presence in Church (guidelines)

Discernir Nuestra Disposición a Reanudar la Presencia Física en la Iglesia

Readiness checklists

These checklists are provided for congregations to report to the diocese their preparations for in-person worship. They are available as online forms or downloadable PDFs.

Confirmation of Church Building Readiness (PDF checklist)

Confirmación de la Preparación de Reapertura de los Edificios de las Iglesias (Lista de Verificación)

Confirmation of Church Building Readiness (online form)

Confirmación de la Preparación de Reapertura (formulario en linea)