Religious Leaders Meet In Glendale Regarding Covid-19

At the invitation of the Glendale Religious Leaders Association, Fr. Vazken Movsesian attended a virtual meeting to discuss the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and its immediate effects on the community.

Now that Los Angeles and Southern California are preparing to become an epicenter for the virus, this meeting was called to discuss and dialogue together with Ed Brail of Glendale Funeral Home, Galen Goben of Forest Lawn Funeral Home, and Cassie McCarty of Glendale Memorial Health Hospital regarding clergy responses to mass hospitalizations and deaths that could be coming our way.  Dr. Shane Kinnison, Senior Pastor at Glendale’s First Baptist Church led the meeting.

For the clergy leaders and spiritual shepherds of congregations and houses of faith, this was a timely and important conversation to have with those who can assist with a deeper understanding of the current and future realities of this virus and how clergy might best respond to congregants.

On behalf of His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate, Fr. Vazken Movsesian represented the Armenian Apostolic Church at this critical and vital meeting for the welfare of the community.

Earlier this day, Archbishop Derderian made a strong plea via television to the community to practice safety measures during this pandemic and most importantly to stay-at-home as instructed by the government and health officials.

The situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic is fluid and changes are recorded daily and sometimes hourly. Immediately, Archbishop Derderian is directing those in need to contact their local pastors via telephone only. When necessary for visitations, individuals and families must allow for virtual* meetings. This will be the manner in which communications and blessings of the Church will be delivered. In instances of death, families can expect virtual prayers offered by the priest, and memorial gatherings can only take place months from now, after the immediate threat is gone.

* By virtual we mean a camera/audio devices such as a smart phone, computer or iPad-type devices that can be set up to communicate with one another.

Since early March the Western Diocese, in compliance with CDC and local health authority guidelines and out of abundance of caution, has moved its religious services to on-line platforms in all of its parishes. With Holy Week next week, we invite congregants to participate in all the services on the Diocesan website, Facebook Page and YouTube channel.