Houses of worship stay open

Congregations across South Florida pushed to keep their doors open this weekend despite the threat of Hurricane Wilma.

"We have shutters for the church if it's Category 3 or higher, but we haven't even put those up yet," said Criss Bertling, spokeswoman for Spanish River Church in Boca Raton. If Wilma does come, she said the church will serve as a shelter for its employees and regular members.

At First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale, the 35 deacons are calling 200 homebound seniors to learn who may need to be moved or need shutters put up, said the Rev. Mike Jeffries, associate for the Rev. Larry Thompson.

Church leaders are also contacting young couples, families and single adults, Jeffries said. "We want them to know what to expect and how to prepare. Some have never been through a hurricane."

Christ Fellowship was planning regular services at its Palm Beach Gardens home campus and at its satellite location at West Palm Beach's CityPlace. But the Wellington services are canceled because the site, Polo Park Middle School, will be closed.

"We have an outreach ministry for assistance, but it hasn't been activated yet," spokesman Mike Anthony said. "That could change when the hurricane gets closer."

Chabad of South Broward is planning its Simhat Torah dinner-dance for 7 p.m. Tuesday, although Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus may shift gears if the hurricane comes this way.

"In Jewish law, when something is doubtful and something is definite, you stay with the definite," said the Hallandale Beach rabbi, who founded the first Chabad Lubavitch center in Broward and Palm Beach counties. "Simhat Torah is a definite. You can't cancel a holiday."

Beyond that, he said, his Chabad of South Broward is following normal storm-time practice: calling on the elderly, delivering food and supplies, seeing who may need to be moved. But Tennenhaus isn't planning for the worst.

In Fort Lauderdale, the Rev. Michael Hoyer has a simple storm-time rule: Celebrate Mass if someone shows up.

"I tell people that if I can make it to church and you can make it, we'll go with the schedule," said Hoyer, of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church. "With all the storms last year, we only canceled one Mass. On that one, nobody came. Next day, some people came. We had no lights, so we did it with candles."

He also believes in prayer, of course, and the church publishes one in the church bulletin every week during hurricane season. The prayer reads in part:

"God our Father, Creator and Lord of the universe, you have set the Earth on its foundation and all the elements of nature obey your command. We humbly beseech you to keep us safe from all dangers and calm the storms that threaten us. May we be secure in your loving protection and serve you always with grateful hearts."

"We've come close, but since we've had that prayer, we've never had a hurricane here," the priest said.