HOME ALONE – Part 2: Catholics find ways to stay connected in pandemic

When asked what she misses most about not being able to attend 9 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Joseph’s Parish in Port Moody, 88-year-old Leona Ransom doesn’t miss a beat when she answers, “the choir.”

 A three-decades-long member of one of the parish’s choral groups, Ransom says nothing can replace the positive feeling she experiences when she joins with her fellow choristers to sing a hymn in four-part harmony.

“Singing is such a marvellous way of expressing everything,” says Ransom, a soprano. “Being surrounded by music is such a tonic. Surrounded by music, and contributing to it, you come away feeling ‘I’ve accomplished something or given something’ or ‘I’ve been alive and well for the five minutes.’”

 A widow who lives with one of her adult children, Ransom confides that she also misses the camaraderie of the choir, and she certainly hopes for an early end to the social isolation mandated by health authorities to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

A retired counsellor, Ransom is well aware of the social and health benefits of being part of a faith community, but says she is content with the weekly homiletic email she receives from her pastor Father Thomas Arackal, and with using the phone to stay in touch with loved ones. “Everybody seems to be OK,” she shares. “I think we’re all kind of lonesome, but we’ll get through it.”

Resilient and optimistic, and with friends and family to support her, Ransom is in a good position to withstand the stresses and strains of the COVID crisis. Others may not be so fortunate, and that’s been a concern of priests and parish groups alike since the beginning of the pandemic crisis.

Questions on how best to keep faith communities alive as well as serve needy individuals have been answered with solutions ranging from the adoption of new communication technologies to the restructuring of existing programs. 

At Church of the Assumption Parish in Powell River, for example, Father Patrick Tepoorten responded quickly to the closing of churches and cessation of public services by staging daily outdoor adoration of the Holy Eucharist and by livestreaming daily Mass on Facebook – one of 47 parishes in the Archdiocese of Vancouver currently doing so.

Adopting the unfamiliar technology didn’t come without its problems, though. “I learned that if you push the ‘magic wand’ on Facebook, it adds beards and faces,” Father Tepoorten confides, noting that at least one priest in Italy became an Internet sensation after mistakenly engaging the feature. “For me, it was Good Friday when I ended up sporting a [virtual] blue beard. Some of our parishioners thought it was hilarious.”

Overall reaction to televised Masses, whether on social media or television, has been positive. “Our parishioners are very appreciative that they have the Mass on Facebook,” he says. “They say, ‘I’m so grateful you’re doing this. I’m just so grateful – it’s contact with the Mass.’” 

Father Tepoorten has concerns, however, about the long-term impact on his parishioners, the majority of whom are seniors. He and his assistant have not been able to provide the pastoral care – visiting homes and hospitals – that they usually perform, and phone calls seem to him to be more intrusive than helpful. “I don’t want to disturb them in their cocoon of self-isolation.”

Nevertheless, he is optimistic that parish life will return to normal when the crisis ends because he senses that his parishioners’ faith is making them hungry to get things back up to speed. “I think we really feel the need in our community,” he says. “I think, in a strange way, it’s a great lesson in the need we have for each other – it’s a real affirmation – and how much we miss each other.”

At Star of the Sea Parish in White Rock the COVID-19 crisis led an existing parish group to pivot in how it delivers spiritual and social support to isolated and lonely seniors. Elaine Webb, a retired nurse, says the parish formed a Pastoral Care Visitation ministry a year ago, training 50 men and women in how “to provide a little bit of company and companionship with lonely and frail seniors” in homes or residential-care facilities, and to better connect them to parish life. 

“The issues are common,” Webb says, “One of them is loneliness, another is fear.” Reaction was overwhelmingly positive. “They are just so grateful. You can see the little spark of joy that we bring,” Webb says.

But it seemed that no sooner did the ministry start rolling than it was forced to suspend operations because of the coronavirus crisis. Working with a 250-name list of seniors provided by the parish office, the visitation team joined with members of the Catholic Women’s League and Knights of Columbus to keep connections alive through regular phone calls. It seems to be working.

“All those who were called expressed gratitude, surprise, and were generally pleased that the Church had reached out and taken the time to connect,” Webb says. As well, almost all said they were fine and had support from adult children, friends, and neighbours. Surprisingly, “no one asked for assistance with groceries or medication runs. But some wanted the parish bulletin [because they didn’t have internet access] and a few wanted holy water. Generally folks were positive and accepting of the current circumstances.”

In fact, the response has been so positive that “it could inform a new way to go forward with support of our senior parishioners,” Webb says.

The pandemic’s impacts on social and spiritual life are not limited to isolated seniors, of course. Patrick Calderon, who serves on the core team of the Holy Rosary Cathedral Young Adults group, says that, pre-COVID, the group could have up to three events a week, as well as a monthly social gathering.

The pandemic’s no-group-gathering order struck at the very heart of the group’s mandate “to cultivate faith and create friendships through fellowship,” as well as providing educational and service opportunities, says Calderon, a 26-year-old consultant who is a graduate of both Notre Dame Regional Secondary in Vancouver and Notre Dame University in Indiana. 

“We were very conflicted as to how to proceed when the quarantine first started,” he says. “We thought that we can’t just disappear. We need to show to the people that we were serving  that Church doesn’t stop for you, that there’s still an opportunity for you to engage as Catholic young adults.”

Now the group meets every Monday via the Zoom app, focusing on faith issues related to the Holy Spirit. Attendance is limited to 15, which is about five fewer than normal meetings, but the virtual gatherings help fill a void. “I think there’s a great longing for in-person interaction and for real community,” Calderon says.

“But, you know, I think it’s a time for us, as young adults, to put into practice skills we grew up with all our entire lives – skills of connecting via technology, and to show that there are ways of getting together even without being physically present.”

Calderon admits that some aspects of the meetings are lost because a vital part of gathering together has always been socialization, but “it’s important for us – because there’s a real longing for community – to do whatever we can do to provide something in the interim.”

As for Calderon personally, he describes himself as “rolling with the punches and appreciating the grace that is present in this particular moment.” In fact, he believes there’s an opportunity to pursue a more contemplative path than the one he was living. 

“But I know that absence makes the heart grow fonder, as well,” he says, “And I think our return will be even better than what we had in the past. I think we have really gotten to see the value of this community. And we’ll come back when this is over with a newfound appreciation for all that we have around us, and just be grateful for it.”

The crisis is affecting parishes and parishioners in countless ways, and no one knows what the “new normal” will look like when it finally ends and parishes can resume in-person operations. Meanwhile many Catholics seem to be finding a silver lining in the COVID cloud, embracing new technologies to stay in touch, finding new ways to serve fellow parishioners, using quiet times to better themselves, or simply being determined to make the best of a sad situation.

During a time when isolation and loneliness can be corrosive, the hopefulness that animates these actions is surely showing itself to be a crucial element of the Catholic character.

See full series