Helping an Indian Temple Reopen Safely for the Families it Serves

Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology in Vienna, Austria, disinfect a local temple to protect the health and safety of its members.

Dressed in protective gear and their distinctive yellow Volunteer Ministers jackets and caps, a team of Scientologists from Vienna sanitized a temple that serves the local Hindu community.

As shown in the new interactive timeline on the Scientology website—20/21: A Look Back & A Look Ahead—when the pandemic struck, the Church compiled the most effective measures for protecting its staff and parishioners from the virus. All Scientology Churches were provided with the world’s most powerful decontamination solution along with manuals and videos to train staff and Volunteer Ministers on its use. 

Learning that a local Hindu temple wanted to reopen but was concerned about the safety of its adherents, Volunteer Ministers offered to help. The temple serves as a spiritual, cultural and community home for more than 1,000 families who gather there on weekends for prayers and to eat together. By sanitizing the spaces the volunteers could help return this important connection to their lives, so vital during this period of uncertainty and isolation brought about by measures instituted to contain the pandemic.

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the world’s largest independent relief forces.

A Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”