Parishioners at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown know him as Father Bob.
But for the next 14 days, Interim Rector Robert Trache might become better known as Friar Bob.
Test results on Thursday confirmed he has COVID-19, and for the next fortnight he will be living a monkish life of isolation.
“I am going to be a hermit through Lent,” said Trache, 72. Fortunately, he is experiencing no symptoms so far.
Last month, Trache attended the same Episcopal conference in Kentucky as former St. Peter’s Rector Janet Broderick, 64, who was hospitalized last week with a “severe form of pneumonia” after being diagnosed with COVID-19, reported her new parish in Beverly Hills, CA.
Actor Matthew Broderick, her brother, said she was making progress towards a full recovery.
Six of the 900 conference attendees have tested positive for the virus, Trache said. He’s not counting himself among the six; doctors here told him they think the Feb. 19-22 gathering in Louisville occurred too long ago to cause an infection now.
“I’m kind of baffled by it. I’m not sure where I got it from,” the priest said.
He was tested Sunday at Morristown Medical Center’s emergency room after an upset stomach prompted him to leave a live-streamed worship service at St. Peter’s– which, like other sanctuaries in the diocese, had been closed to the public to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“I could feel myself breaking into a cold sweat” as the service began, Trache recounted. “I knew I was going to have an upset stomach.”
There was no fever or respiratory congestion. Emergency room doctors suspected food poisoning, Trache said. But they tested him for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, just in case.
Eleven people — choir members, readers, and clergy–were present at Sunday’s service. The two persons who interacted most closely with him, his associate rector and music director, are self-isolating as a precaution, Trache said.
Trache’s isolation will be total– his wife, the Rev. Liza Ragsdale, has been in Florida for weeks, recuperating from a tendon injury, he said.
On Thursday, state officials reported 742 cases of COVID-19 across New Jersey; nine people have died. Twenty-six cases have been identified in Morris County so far.
In Morristown, cases have been reported involving individuals connected with the Shalom Yeladim Nursery School and Headquarters Plaza. Morristown Medical Center was treating three COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, the same day the hospital’s parent company, Atlantic Health, rolled out a drive-through testing center in Morris Township.
With their clergy members temporarily out of the picture, St. Peter’s flock probably will be offered a live-streamed service from the National Cathedral on Sunday, Trache said.
If all goes well, he will reclaim the virtual pulpit just in time for the most sacred period on the Christian calendar.
“I’ll come back with a vengeance on Palm Sunday,” Trache said.
