Rev. Tony O’Dell can’t cite another time during St. Patrick Parish’s 144 years that it was closed for worship but open as a sanctuary for Hamilton’s most vulnerable.

“It’s been through two world wars, but there’s never been a time when we’ve just been open for a pandemic,” says O’Dell, a day before Holy Thursday ahead of the Easter weekend.

Coronavirus forced the church to shut its doors to congregants, but it reopened them this week to homeless and marginalized people searching for daytime respite.

Pews have been set aside for people to sleep; snacks, water and coffee are offered by masked volunteers at a counter; washrooms are open for those who need the toilet or wash up with warm water; the area at the back of the church is arranged and marked to ensure adequate physical distancing between visitors.

For O’Dell, the symbolism — and practical compassion — in the run-up to Easter couldn’t get any more authentic. “Everything you’ve ever preached about ... it’s coming to fruition.”

He said the church received a letter from the city earlier this week asking it to open the space. That was required for insurance purposes. The church has supplied its own masks, gloves, sanitizer and volunteers.

They’ll be open 1 to 5 p.m. every day. So far, it’s only been a trickle of visitors. “But we expect those numbers to grow quite a bit once the word gets out.”

St. Patrick is no stranger to helping the city’s neediest souls. The church at the corner of King Street East and Victoria Avenue serves meals to hundreds every day from its adjacent outreach centre.

O’Dell said more are lining up during the crisis. “Today, for example, we fed 438 people.”

Many have mental illnesses and battle drug addiction. They don’t know where to turn during the crisis, he said. “There’s a sense of hopelessness.”

O’Dell worries the regular outlets for homeless people to use toilets, wash or just fill water bottles, including library branches and fast-food restaurants, have shuttered.

It’s tough to put a hard number on Hamilton’s homeless population. One measure — about 1,000 people — is the city’s byname priority list, which includes those who access services, such as shelters.

Apart from St. Patrick, there are four drop-in sites the city and social-service agencies have offered during the crisis.

“That’s not nearly enough,” Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk, who has many homeless patients, said outside the church Wednesday afternoon. “Ideally, we would have 10 sites like this set up, scattered throughout the inner city and maybe toward the east end, as well.”

Wiwcharuk urges churches and community organizations to follow St. Patrick’s lead and fill the breach.

If they throw open their doors, the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team can supply willing and qualified volunteers, said Wiwcharuk, noting only “well” visitors without symptoms are admitted.

Inside St. Patrick, a masked Eilish Scallan and J.C. Asuncion stand behind a table ready to hand out water, coffee and snacks to visitors.

The first to arrive Tuesday immediately said he needed to use the toilet, said Asuncion, a nursing graduate. “And he ran in.”

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Scallan, a medical student, called the contagion a “perfect storm” for homeless people. “I think there’s generally a lot of fear and just a sense of needing to find a different type of community in this scary time.”

Add to that stress the fact that homeless people have landed $750 fines for not following “physical-distancing” laws.

One of Wiwcharuk’s patients was ticketed for being with a group of eight after spending the night in a shelter dorm with 25 other men. “So you tell me if that makes sense.”