DANVILLE, Pa. — Church bells were a comforting sound for many parishioners at St. Joseph in Danville.
After months of watching mass online, worshippers were finally able to attend a church service in person.
"The celebration is actually being able to return and go to mass, said Ronald Byerly. "The concern? We work in health care, so this is a lot less concerning than what we deal with on a daily basis."
"You can't receive the Eucharist, you can't sit with your fellow parishioners and worship with them," said Tom Ciccarelli of Danville. "I'm so happy to be back."
The Diocese of Harrisburg allowed all of its churches in yellow counties, which include Snyder, Northumberland Union, and Montour, to reopen their doors for public masses this weekend.
Public masses will be held at the discretion of each church and pastor, but churches must limit masses to one-third of their normal capacity.
At St. Joseph, that means only 75 people are allowed at a service.
No one was turned away for the 8 a.m. or the 11 a.m. mass.
Greg and Paula Benkavic of Riverside said they were surprised when there was no line to get inside the chapel, but they understand the concerns of people who chose to stay home.
"Because you gotta do it sometime, so we said let's just go ahead and come because it's going to be this way for a long time," said Paula.
Many people said it was important to come back to church to receive holy communion, although the process of receiving it looks a little bit different.
Now communion is being distributed after mass is concluded.
"They'll maintain that six feet of social distance coming forward, they'll maintain their masks on and then as they approach then they'll lower their mask, receive holy communion as they normally would, they'll raise their mask and return to their pew, and they can have a time of personal prayer and so on," explained Father Timothy Marcoe. "I've been amazed at how it's flowed pretty well."
Father Marcoe said they are still live streaming services for those who aren't ready to gather in person just yet, and they'll continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
For those people, communion is being offered in this alley behind the church each Sunday at 1 p.m.
RELATED: Food distribution held near Hazleton
RELATED: Celebration times two in Moosic