At the start of 2020, we couldn’t have foreseen that a pandemic would shape most of The B.C. Catholic’s coverage of the year. Every major event in the archdiocese would be cancelled or significantly downsized, every charitable work would grapple with how to continue providing services and where the money would come from, and every Catholic would face the heartbreaking reality of being away from the sacraments during the most important liturgical celebrations of the year. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20.
Some surprising developments stemming from all of this were countless innovations born out of a desire to stay spiritually connected and events forced to go virtual only to attract much larger audiences than they did in the years they were held in person.
Here is a look at some of our top stories from an unpredictable year we won’t soon forget.
74 Knights in two days
Secret rituals for new members of the Knights of Columbus are now a thing of the past. Simplified initiation ceremonies open to all became the norm as of Jan. 1; the first such events in B.C. were held at St. Bernadette’s Parish Jan. 25 and at St. Luke’s Parish in Maple Ridge Jan. 28. Seventy-four men became third degree Knights.
Breaking ground on a new school
Father Bruce-John Hamilton broke ground on a new elementary school at Corpus Christi Parish Feb. 2. The Corpus Christi school is the first commissioned to be rebuilt after Archbishop Miller ordered in 2018 that high-risk structures be replaced. (Other schools, including Immaculate Conception School and Notre Dame and St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary, have also recently completed seismic retrofits).
Interfaith dialogue going strong
Two hundred people of Jewish and Christian backgrounds gathered to talk about the Book of Esther March 2. It was the third event of its kind hosted by the Archdiocese of Vancouver and Congregation Beth Israel since 2019, a sign of ongoing relations between the two communities.
Pandemic hits: the first few months
Vancouver priest Father Davide Lanzani compared Rome to a war zone in an interview with The B.C. Catholic about COVID-19-related lockdowns in Italy in mid-March.
Just a few days later, B.C. would start experiencing its own shutdowns. The B.C. government called for a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people March 16. Archbishop Miller announced March 21 Masses would no longer be offered with a public congregation for the foreseeable future. He lifted the obligation to attend Sunday Mass and said churches could remain open for private prayer and adoration “whenever the health and safety of the community can be scrupulously attended to.” Penitential services and other events planned for Lent and Easter, along with major annual events including conventions, retreats, pilgrimages, and pro-life events had to be cancelled or moved online.
Providence Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health opened Vancouver’s first drive-through COVID-19 testing site for health-care workers March 20. The site, next door to the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s head offices, remains in active use today.
In this shifting climate, Vancouver’s first “Virtual Parish” was born. A community of young adults who had been praying the Rosary together through a video conference program asked Father Paul Goo to celebrate Mass for them in front of a camera March 21. The sight of Mass celebrated on a computer screen has since become commonplace as about 75 per cent of the archdiocese’s 77 parishes are livestreaming liturgies today.
Other innovations were embraced by many churches (some continuing to the present), including drive-through confessions and Communion as well as drive-up adoration. At St. Patrick’s in Vancouver, the Blessed Sacrament was placed in a second-story chapel window in plain view of the street below where Catholics could look up and pray from the sidewalk or a parked car. The stories of these and many other creative ways Catholics connected and supported each other were shared online and in print with the hashtag #ChurchNeverStops.
On March 30, with public Masses still closed, Archbishop Miller released guidelines for Easter Masses, which included instructions that liturgies not be pre-recorded and there be no washing of feet on Holy Thursday or kissing of the Cross on Good Friday.
Some events geared at strengthening one’s faith moved online with great success. Three noteworthy examples, logging hundreds of registrants each, were a Lenten retreat led by Father Juan Lucca April 3; the Into the Deep talk series run by Franciscan Sister Angela Marie Castellani; and the Catholic Faith in Plain English course led by Father Vincent Hawkswell and Maureen Creelman.
For many British Columbians the pandemic was narrated by daily press conferences by B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. Archbishop Miller also made many online appearances to answer questions about restrictions on liturgies, ways Catholics can connect to the Church, and how challenging it is for priests to celebrate Mass in empty churches.
Making the switch to online teaching in April was a huge learning curve for Catholic schools. Most teachers in the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese (CISVA) were teaching online by April 6 and would do so until June 1.
Bishops in Canada and the U.S. consecrated both nations to Mary on May 1 in response to the pandemic. By that day, more than 53,000 Canadians had been infected by the virus.
Delta Hospice facing ongoing dispute
The year was a distressing one for supporters of the Delta Hospice Society. The B.C. government gave the society a deadline of February 2020 to allow assisted suicide at the 10-bed hospice it operates in Ladner. The society maintained that euthanasia is not part of hospice care and said in January it would forego $750,000 in government funding rather than offer lethal injections. Instead, Health Minister Adrian Dix announced Feb. 25 the government was terminating its agreement with the society, pulling all funding by 2021 and taking over management of the hospice.
In June, the hospice fell under another layer of controversy as it tried to launch a mail-in ballot to ask members if they wanted to become a Christian society. In response the board was accused of “going rogue” and handpicking membership applications, and the vote was stalled by the B.C. Supreme Court. In August the society took the case to the B.C. Court of Appeal.
The appeal court dismissed the case Nov. 13, and the society responded by saying it is considering taking the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Celebrating marital milestones
A May 10 celebration of 166 couples representing a total of 5,100 years of marriage was remarkably intimate this year. Only Archbishop Miller and a handful of participants joined the celebration in person at Holy Rosary Cathedral while more than 160 couples, family members, and others watched the live event online. Images of all the couples were placed in the pews to recognize their commitments to and love for each other.
Public Masses back, for a time
By the end of May, Catholics received some welcome news: public Masses would begin once again, conditional on pastors enforcing a limit of 50 people and physical distancing, sanitizing their hands often, and following other requirements.
On the first weekend under the new guidelines (May 23/24) only about two dozen of the archdiocese’s 77 parishes opened their doors for public Masses. Others opened gradually.
Pentecost Sunday
A new “face” of evangelism in Vancouver was launched online on Pentecost Sunday. The new website, called Behold, aimed to emphasize community and marked a major shift in direction for the archdiocese’s evangelism and communications work.
Students return to school
Catholic students packed their bags for school again June 1, the first time they would see each other in person since they had moved to online learning around spring break. New distancing and sanitary measures, online options, and a cap on the number of students allowed back made for a complex situation for teachers and parents.
Graduation ceremonies for Grade 7s and Grade 12s involved drive-through parades, red carpets, and a whole lot of video streaming.
Donors respond to the crisis
Project Advance was launched late this year (June 8) with a shift of focus from capital projects to pandemic response. The goal for the year was cut to $1.625 million from $3.25 million, with more than half of the target earmarked for a Crisis Response Fund, designated for charities directly affected by COVID-19. Charities receiving funds included the meal delivery program All Were Filled and Domestic Abuse Services - Our Lady of Good Counsel Society.
Business executives and faith leaders in B.C. also banded together to help their communities financially during the pandemic by launching the B.C. Christian Leaders Response Fund in May hoping to raise $1 million.
First lay chancellor
In July, Barbara Dowding broke two records at once by becoming the first lay person and first woman to become chancellor for the Archdiocese of Vancouver. For more than a century the archdiocese’s chancellor, a senior curial official for the archbishop, has been a priest, though there is no requirement that the person in that role be a member of the clergy.
Preparing for a new school year
In August, Education Minister Rob Fleming chose Sept. 10 as the day most students would start the new school year under yet another set of updated guidelines. CISVA associate superintendent Lesya Balsevich said the return to in-class learning was welcome, but implementing all of the new health and safety guidelines was a logistical challenge. Meanwhile, demand for distance education skyrocketed: one of B.C.’s largest online learning schools had nearly 800 students on standby in August; typically, they rarely have a waiting list.
Seniors making ‘enormous sacrifices’
Lockdowns in long-term care homes led some advocacy groups and individuals to ring alarm bells about the effects of isolation on residents. Some reports revealed seniors have requested assisted suicide out of loneliness.
Construction projects forge ahead
Though the pandemic shut down a great many things, many development projects forged ahead this year. In addition to Corpus Christi elementary school, the communities at St. John Brebeuf Secondary and St. John Paul II Academy also broke ground on the sites of their future schools while Vancouver College wrapped up a $43-million development project in the fall. St. Mary’s Elementary in Vancouver also opened a temporary fine arts wing this year while looking forward to its own expansion project sometime in the future.
Meanwhile, Catholic Cemeteries completed Phase 1 of a multimillion-dollar development plan in the summer, while the current St. Paul’s Hospital site was sold to Concord Pacific, a step toward the opening of a new medical centre at 1002 Station Street.
Upper Room Conference goes virtual
The second annual Upper Room conference was offered virtually for the first time Sept. 19. The conference was streamed to nearly 800 people and featured guests Father John Riccardo, Mary Healy, Pete Burak, and Matt Maher.
Investigating adoptions gone wrong
In the fall, The B.C. Catholic published a series of investigative articles on what has been called the “post-war adoption mandate” in Canada. We shared the personal story of B.C. resident Bernadette Dumas-Rymer (who was 19 years old, pregnant, and unmarried when she was forced to give away her child) and interviewed researchers, a documentary filmmaker, and others affected by post-WWII adoption practices gone wrong.
21 receive papal medals
Twenty-one people in the Archdiocese of Vancouver received papal medals for remarkable service to the Catholic Church in October. Five received the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, established by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, and 15 received Benemerenti medals, created by Pope Gregory XVI in 1832. Their biographies can be read here.
B.C. goes to the ballot box
NDP leader John Horgan gave voters one month and three days’ notice when he called a snap provincial election. The B.C. Catholic and Catholic Conscience scrambled to release a voters’ guide with summaries of party platforms. On election day Oct. 24, the NDP party won a majority government.
Meanwhile, the United States was gearing up for its Nov. 3 presidential election, an event that saw the stepping forward of president-elect Joe Biden and deep divisions between many Americans and some of their neighbours to the north about the presidency of Donald Trump.
Deacon ordained
When Raffaele Salvino was ordained a deacon Oct. 23, Archbishop Miller called the occasion a “ray of light.” The first ordination during the pandemic, it involved a small congregation of fewer than 50 people and a livestreamed liturgy that was watched by at least 1,700 people, more than twice the maximum capacity of the cathedral.
Archbishop’s Dinner goes virtual
The first virtual Archbishop’s Dinner drew record numbers as more than 2,200 households registered, double the number who typically attend the annual fundraiser when it is offered as a wine-and-dine for $150 per seat at local hotels. It was streamed live Oct. 29 and featured Archbishop Miller’s annual “state of the archdiocese” address with highlights of the past year.
Pandemic: second wave
B.C. churches were closed to public worship again Nov. 19, this time by government. Archbishop Miller said he caught off guard and saddened by the news, adding it was “puzzling” that religious gatherings seemed to be singled out while some secular gatherings were permitted.
The closure came just after Archbishop Miller had urged all parishioners to wear masks at Mass and receive Communion on the hand in response to climbing COVID-19 case numbers.
The announcement also came just as The B.C. Catholic concluded a parish survey on Mass participation and a study of parish finances. The survey found Mass attendance had plummeted by about 80 per cent since the spring (when the 50-person cap on gatherings was put in place) but virtual viewership had skyrocketed and outstripped Mass attendance. The financial study found parishes were likely to end the year with a 25-per-cent-drop in offertory giving on average.
Responding to church closures, a growing group of Catholics began gathering outside Holy Rosary Cathedral on Sundays praying for churches to re-open (at last count they numbered 200) and several petitions have been launched urging the government to reconsider.
Celebrating a humbler Christmas
The heartbreak Catholics experienced when they were shut out of personally attending Easter Masses became true also for Christmas. On Dec. 7, government officials extended the closure of churches (and other restrictions) initially announced Nov. 19 until Jan. 8, prohibiting any public Christmas and New Year’s Masses.
Before these orders were put in place, the Archdiocese of Vancouver was planning special Christmas events and initiatives, most of which could still go ahead as planned. A Blue Light Campaign invited families and parishes to decorate their homes with blue lights to show solidarity with those missing loved ones at Christmas. An Advent retreat Dec. 4, a Day of Reconciliation Dec. 12, and a series of virtual movie nights featuring The Chosen Dec. 26-28 were also aimed at building community and strengthening faith.
Progress report released
In mid-December, the archdiocese released an update on sexual abuse by local priests, the first comprehensive one since its initial report in 2019. The update provided a progress report on the 31 recommendations made last year, including following through with the establishment of an independent intake office and a liturgy on All Survivors’ Day Nov. 3. It said progress is still being made on other recommendations and the pandemic was mentioned as a major factor in delaying some of them. The report named an additional three priests involved in abuse settlements.
Priest ordained
Former professional golfer and accountant Richard Conlin was ordained a priest at Holy Rosary Cathedral Dec. 11. The young man from Richmond was ordained in an intimate ceremony (with only a few family members and clergy present) but celebrated with hundreds of livestream viewers. The video of his ordination on YouTube has been viewed thousands of times. He is now the assistant pastor at Corpus Christi Parish.
The pandemic did not put a pause on vocations; this year 10 men and women in the archdiocese entered seminary or begun discernment with religious orders, according to vocations director Father Paul Goo.
COVID-19 vaccine arrives
The first COVID-19 vaccines were administered to Canadians Dec. 14. While the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine was celebrated as the first immunization available to Canadians in the pandemic, other scientists are still working on their own contributions. Among them, Vancouver’s Dr. Wilfred Jefferies and his team at Eyam Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics are just entering their vaccine candidate into animal trials. Their project is being praised as Canadian-made and ethical, and has the personal support of Archbishop Miller, who made a financial contribution to the project in April.
Ringing in a new year
At the time this article was published, public Masses were still suspended and there had been more than 45,000 COVID-19 cases in B.C., including nearly 34,000 recoveries. There were more than 700 confirmed deaths.
As Catholics ring in 2021, likely feeling the loss of familiar liturgies and fatigued by too much screen time, we’re sure some will join us in wondering: what could happen next?
Did we miss anything? Write to us at [email protected].