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March 25, 2022

The COVID Protocol Committee continues to discern a path for our community to worship together safely in person through an ever-changing environment. The metrics we have been using to make decisions these past few weeks have been relatively stable, and we are thankful for everyone who has joined us to worship and to serve, either in person or virtually.

We wanted to share our latest thinking, prayerfully considered.

Moving forward, we see an opportunity for our community to go Mask Optional (while still strongly recommending masks). We ask if you join us in person without a mask, you are up to date on your COVID vaccinations and continue to distance from others outside your household. High quality masks will continue to be available at the church, and we will also continue to offer virtual service.

Our team will continue to meet and monitor the new variant that has become dominant worldwide in the past week (Omicron BA.2) in case we need to change protocols again.

February 10, 2022

We are delighted to return to in-person worship at 11:00 am this Sunday, February 13th!

As numbers remain high, we will require proof of vaccination and matching ID to attend services this weekend, and high-quality masks will be required for all in attendance (we have ones to provide, if needed). At levels lower than our Community Caution phase, we'll strongly recommend that everyone be up-to-date on their COVID vaccination if they wish to attend services.

You can read more about these updated phases, as decided by our COVID Protocol Team, here.

In addition to re-opening the church for services, we'll also have the church doors open during the lunch hour (12-1:30 pm) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until Holy Week. We'll have prayer resources available, and you might even get to sit in on our Music Director’s rehearsal time!

The Protocol Team will continue meeting every two weeks until Easter to begin planning for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, and we'll give updates after these gatherings on Thursday.

January 27, 2022

The COVID-19 Protocol team met this week. We're happy to see case numbers in the Philadelphia area going down following the Omicron surge, and we expect local conditions will continue to improve. Though, while case numbers are dropping, they do remain about six times higher than they were in November 2021. That said, it remains important to exercise caution using strategies we know reduce transmission and severe illness, including well-fitting and high-quality masks and receiving vaccines and booster doses. So, we will continue to live-stream our services through February 6, 2022 and meet again in 2 weeks to assess the situation.

January 6, 2022

We are so saddened to be back to extreme risk and to be practicing Extreme Caution during this phase of the pandemic. This is a big disappointment for us and a scary moment for the city. Please know, you are in our prayers always.

The Covid Protocol Team and clergy have met to consider and revise the protocols for this phase. Our purpose is not to change the protocols again and again, but to make them fit the situation at hand with the best scientific and health guidance we have in the moment. We also want to take into account the health of our community as well as the spiritual nourishment for everyone.

With all these things in mind, we have decided that we will follow these protocols for the month of January – allowing us and you to have some stability and consistency. We will re-evaluate plans near the end of the month to see what we can do next.

Extreme Caution Phase – Worship Protocols for January 2022

Live-stream 11 am service: Morning Prayer
Worship Team of 8: 1 officiant, 1 musician, 1 reader, 1 camera person, and 4 singers
Protocols: All participants pre-test at home (tests provided by church), maximum social distancing, highest possible masks provided by church, air purifiers in the chancel area.
No outside or indoor fellowship

We want to thank you for your flexibility, adaptiveness, and support throughout all of this. You are an amazing community!! We also want to thank the Covid Protocol Team for their untiring work and creative and flexible solutions, including securing 200 tests for the church before Christmas – they are a gift to us and this community (Thank you Sally, Greg, Ashely, Simson, Mike, and Oscar)!

December 30, 2021

As you have seen on the news, COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia have reached new highs in this pandemic. The metrics for Philadelphia County that the COVID Protocol Team reviews - cases per 100,000, infection rate, and positive test rate - are at dangerous levels due to the rapid spread of Delta and Omicron variants.

We are now in the Extreme Caution phase of the protocol plan. Until the metrics improve, we will worship 100% virtually as a congregation. This means our clergy, musicians, readers, and other participants will pre-record their aspects of service, which will then be edited to premiere at regular worship time each Sunday online starting next week.

Due to the speed by which the COVID situation deteriorated since Christmas, we were unable to pre-record a service for this week (Sunday, January 2, 2022). We will still stream a previously recorded service on Facebook, with a brief message from Revs. John and Rachel to open.

This pandemic’s pervasive and persistent disruption to our lives has hurt all of us. We encourage you to reach out to the clergy and vestry, who would be happy to arrange a time to meet, as we safely can.

December 23, 2021

Greetings and Merry Christmas!

As of today, COVID case numbers in Philadelphia appear at a place where we’ll be able to continue in the Community Caution phase of our Christmas Mitigation Plan – which means limited indoor service as well as online streaming. However, please do not forget this event requires proof of vaccination (2+ shots) for everyone, including children. If you do not have proof of vaccine (a photo on your phone is fine) with a matching ID, you will not be able to attend.

Masking for the entirety of the service will still be required, and please, if you are experiencing any symptoms of feeling unwell (even the mildest, cold-like symptoms), we ask that you stay at home for the safety and well-being of everyone. You can always watch our live-streaming services from the comfort of your home on our Facebook.

December 16, 2021

As numbers remain elevated as of Thursday (see COVID Act Now), and we know that being outdoors is the safest way to be together in times like these, we will again meet outside this week in front of the church between 10:30 -12:30. The service will be streamed outside, and we will have bulletins for anyone who wants to gather and join in the service. Communion will be brought to those gathered during the distribution of communion. We will also have coffee, hot chocolate and treats. Last week was such a joyful gathering, if you miss seeing people, we encourage you to bundle up and join us. If you want to stay home, please join us online. We will continue this way until numbers go down again and we can safely gather indoors.

December 10, 2021

Dear CHT Community,

The COVID Protocol Team (formerly the Re-Entry Committee) discussed current COVID metrics in the city today, and as a result we have made the difficult decision to restrict in-person worship this coming Sunday (December 12, 2021) to participants only - the church will not be open for the general congregation. We will be hosting a coffee hour and fellowship time outside the front of the church during and after the service for those who would like to come and/or those who have not heard about our change in plans.

Our decision follows the guidelines we developed over the summer – the same plan we have been following since Vestry approved them in August 2021. A copy of that plan is available here: https://htrit.org/covid-19-phases/

Under the plan, we restricted in-person worship on one previous weekend (on August 29, 2021), and were able to resume worship the following week when case levels in the city quickly dropped to acceptable levels.

Unfortunately, the present situation does appear to be different from the summer. Case counts have risen 29% (from a rate of 25.6 up to 34.2) in the past 24 hours, and have nearly doubled in the past week (from 18.6 to 34.2). The rate of infection is also steadily rising, and the positive test rate remains elevated. Statistics for the greater Philadelphia metro area are even more concerning and show steep, exponential increases in case counts that resemble the start of the major wave in the city last winter.

While we pause in-person church this weekend, the COVID Protocol Team will continue to meet and discuss how we might safely offer in-person worship for the remainder of Advent and Christmas. We expect to have further updates for the congregation next week.

Know that we share the nearly universal desire of the congregation to be able to gather together, as we have been doing successfully for several months, but that we also recognize that following our plans for safety when it's hard is an important test of our commitment to care for one another and of our faith that things can and will get better.

We are holding all the members of the congregation in our prayers, whether they are suffering from fear of the virus, from loneliness as a result of being unable to see each other, or from any of the other myriad of challenges that the pandemic has caused. We look forward to gathering together again soon.

Project Statement:

The Church of the Holy Trinity was designed to make sound come alive. From the thunderous abolitionist sermons of Phillips Brooks, writer of the hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” to today’s choral church services and community concerts, we are known for rich musicality, bold social statements, and joyous community gatherings. Our church is now growing our musical gifts to the community by giving a second chance to one of the finest organs in the City of Philadelphia.

The organ, Möller Opus 8128, was endangered when the new owners of First Baptist Church decided to remove the instrument. Through the vision of a local philanthropist with a love of the organ as deep as ours, Holy Trinity emerged as a new home for this incomparable instrument. Initial supporters believe, as do we, that the Möller organ will greatly enhance music for both church services and community groups presenting concerts at Holy Trinity. The history and quality of the instrument will promote expanded relationships with our neighbor, the Curtis Institute, and with the large professional musical community in Philadelphia.

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