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Local churches offer drive-thru confessions amid coronavirus pandemic

By WSBTV.com News Staff
By WSBTV.com News Staff

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Local churches are trying to adapt to these abnormal times.

Some are now offering parking lot confessionals.

Channel 2 Gwinnett County bureau chief Tony Thomas went to St. Lawrence Church, where people are driving up for confession while practicing social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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The priest says this isn’t something they taught him in the seminary.

“My faith is the most important thing,” parishioner Weks Anyu-Chica said. “In times like this, this is what I think we need more than anything else.”

Chica did something almost unimaginable just days ago, confessing her sins to a priest from her own car.

“Our parishioners really miss coming to mass and we miss having them,” Father Mark Thomas said.

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The Priests at St. Lawrence Catholic Church began drive-thru confessions as a way for the church to maintain social distancing yet keep their faith.

After the long line of parishioners ended, Thomas approached Father Mark Thomas s to discuss the unusual practice.

“We certainly didn't go over anything like this at the seminary,” Father Mark Thomas said

Masses there are being livestreamed, but confessions needed a more personal touch. Every Monday and Wednesday evening now, one of the priests come outside for two hours of listening, and blessing.

Empty church NABLUS, WEST BANK - JULY 21: Father Youssef Sa'adeh prays in front of empty pews in the Greek Catholic Melkite church of St. John the Baptist July 21, 2002 in the West Bank town of Nablus. With his congregation under Israeli army curfew, Sa'adeh worships alone in the church instead of with the 50 or more parishioners who would normally join him for Sunday prayers. The 700-strong Christian community of Nablus has been affected by Israel's Determined Path military operation as much as their Muslim neighbors, who number in the tens of thousands. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images) (David Silverman/Getty Images)

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