Editor’s note: This story was produced through a partnership between the INDY and The 9th Street Journal, which is published by journalism students at Duke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy.

After worshippers climb stairs to the fourth floor of the Science Drive Garage, they arrange folding chairs six feet apart. Choir members sing “Create a Clean Heart” as people settle in. 

When the song ends, The Rev. Michael Martin approaches them from the far end of Level 4, passing five choir members standing by spaced-apart microphones. Ten musicians sit behind them. 

All over the country people of faith have altered their worship rituals to adapt to life in a pandemic. In Durham, Duke Catholic Center has gone almost open air, staging Mass every Sunday in a campus garage a short walk from Cameron Stadium. 

“Why don’t we stand and wave to the people around us and begin our celebration,” he says.  

Mask back on, the priest signals the congregation to sit. A young woman approaches the altar to read a passage from Isaiah from a smartphone.

As she moves to her seat, a baby begins to cry, a familiar sound in church that is amplified here by the acoustics of cement walls. A nun quickly wipes down the altar with disinfecting wipes. 

As Father Mike began his sermon on humility and one’s role as “a rock,” helpers set up a portable screen on top of four plastic storage boxes. Short clips of students encouraging others to join small group discussions begins to play. 

Communion is different during pandemic Mass. Masked helpers hand worshippers consecrated hosts with outstretched arms to keep a safe distance.

Instead of lining up during the Holy Eucharist, worshippers stay put. After pouring sanitizer on their hands, altar servers carry bowls to them, offering communion with stretched arms. Once servers move past them, those participating pull down their masks to place consecrated hosts in their mouths. 

As the service ends, congregants collect their chairs and blankets and proceed to take stairs to their cars, waving to friends as they leave. 

Not only those attending the Catholic Center service, which are recorded and posted online, are touched by what happens in the garage 

“My wife and I were walking on the Duke Trail this morning.The music coming from your service was beautiful,” @CoachMinnick commented on one online video post. “The music and acoustics sounded as if we were in a cathedral.”

9th Street reporter Dryden Quigley can be reached at dryden.quigley@duke.edu