With churches closed and sacraments all but unavailable, Catholics in the Archdiocese of Vancouver are embracing every opportunity they can to live out their faith.

Through innovative distancing measures and by making use of diverse streaming technology, the faithful are taking part in as many aspects of church life as they can, resulting in soaring viewership of virtual Masses, record web traffic to archdiocesan websites, and inventive ways of bringing community together while observing physical distancing rules.

It has also launched a new strategic hashtag in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, #ChurchNeverStops, a campaign to tell stories of faith lived out in trying times and shared online.

The archdiocese is promoting the Church Never Stops message in its communications, from email signatures to social media, reminding Catholics that “We may not be celebrating Mass publicly right now, but we never stop being the Church.”

The initiative reminds the faithful that “Now more than ever people need to hear the hope of the Gospel” and invites them to “share how Church is being lived out in your life and use #ChurchNeverStops.” A Church Never Stops page with resources and video can be found at rcav.org/church-never-stops.

The website is populated with photos of home altars, priests offering drive-thru confessions, and volunteers in masks and gloves feeding the poor in the Downtown Eastside. It also includes resources such as links to online faith studies, prayers, and ways to watch Mass online.

Online Mass participation certainly indicates that Church Never Stops is more than just a slogan in the archdiocese. Whereas few parishes in the archdiocese were streaming Masses a year ago, today most of them are using some form of streaming technology to share their services.

Viewership of those Masses is also going through the roof. Holy Rosary Cathedral, which streamed its Midnight Mass last Christmas to 127 viewers, drew more than 6,500 views on Good Friday. Its Easter Vigil Mass had 3,400 views. The cathedral’s services had more than 9,000 views from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.

Archbishop Miller blesses the Paschal candle during the Easter Vigil at Holy Rosary Cathedral. The livestreamed Mass drew 3,400 views on YouTube. (Holy Rosary Cathedral)

Other parishes with large viewership included St. Mary's Vancouver with 6,600, Immaculate Heart in Vancouver (6,200), St. Joseph Worker in Richmond (5,300), St. Anthony of Padua in Vancouver (5,200), St. Matthew’s in Surrey (5,000), and St. Patrick’s in Vancouver (which twinned with the Virtual Parish for 3,400 views.)

From Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, livestream services drew an impressive 167,000 views. Considering many of those views would have consisted of more than a single viewer, the actual number of people who took in virtual services is likely several times larger.

Meanwhile, online readership of The B.C. Catholic was at an all-time high last month with 65,000 page views, nearly doubling the previous high.

Matthew Furtado, digital media and marketing coordinator for the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Communications office, has noticed the trend that many people are going online to connect, reach out, and pray. 

Archbishop Miller blesses the city of Vancouver on Easter morning. (Holy Rosary Cathedral)

“Social media traffic is way up and many parishes are quickly adopting new websites, social media platforms, email newsletters, and live streams,” he said. In addition to the dozens of parishes offering livestreamed Masses and events, ministries are adapting to use video conferencing apps.

“Each of us is the living Church. Now more than ever, people need to hear the hope of the Gospel. As long as each of us continues to be the living body of Christ, the Church never stops,” Furtado said.

The hope is that the Church Never Stops initiative will inspire even more local Catholics to get creative and keep living out their faith during these uncertain times, said Furtado. “When church buildings close, the Church lives on through each one of us.”

The possibilities are vast. Furtado said a recent Lenten retreat that had been aiming for about 100 participants before it was forced to become an online event ended up ministering to more than 900 viewers. 

Meanwhile, Father Nick Meisl appeared on the front pages of the Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail, in addition to TV news reports, for hearing confessions in the parking lot of St. Patrick’s in Vancouver.

Father Nick Meisl hearing parking lot confessions made the front page of the Easter Saturday edition of The Vancouver Sun.

Furtado encourages people who want to share how they are continuing to “be the Church” online or in physically distant ways to post photos and messages on social media using the hashtag #ChurchNeverStops and tagging @archvancouver.

More information is at www.churchneverstops.org.