As I mentioned a few days ago, the Chicago Archdiocese has suspended all masses because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has changed my weekend rhythm pretty dramatically. A typical weekend for me would include serving as deacon for 1 or 2 masses, along with baptisms once a month (although we don't do those during Lent). In addition, I've been providing music accompaniment at one mass per weekend since November, as our music director has had serious surgery with a lengthy recovery time. Taken together, these duties represent a big commitment of weekend time for me, as this is all on top of my family life, day job and other ministry duties. But those weekend liturgical activities are now on hold. This past weekend was the quietest one I've had in years - in fact, I can't remember one in which I had so little to do.
I am not one who enjoys being becalmed. I like having responsibilities and doing things, and I like being with people. I get a lot of spiritual nourishment and fulfillment from the weekend liturgical involvement. So not having anywhere to go opens up a gap for me, both spiritually and socially.
My wife and I discussed what to do to try to fill the gap, and we decided to try something we never thought we'd do until we become institutionalized: we watched mass on television on Sunday morning. As others have noted here at NewGathering, there are a lot of televised mass options, including other local parishes (not ours, alas) live-streaming private masses.
We chose a long-running local telecast of Sunday morning mass from Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, which is broadcast on Channel 9, an independent Chicago television station. The producers have it down to a science: they get through a full mass, including a homily and music in all the expected places, in about 26 minutes. The presider on Sunday was Fr. Greg Sakowicz, a media-savvy Chicago priest who is the cathedral rector.
So my wife and I, and one of my children who happened to be awake, gathered in front of the television set on Sunday morning. We assumed our usual television watching positions: recliners in the recline position, us covered with afghans (and cats), and with the remote nearby. We didn't do the stand/sit/kneel thing, but my wife started voicing the responses and singing along with the acclamations and such, which guilted my daughter and me into joining in. One of the other children, who rolled out of bed about halfway through the telecast and observed us doing this in the family room, remarked that we looked like the humans on the space ship in the Pixar film Wall-E.
I confess that, if my wife hadn't urged me to watch Sunday mass on television, I wouldn't have done it. I don't consider that watching mass on television is the same as actually taking part in liturgy. It's the difference between sitting in a room with others, and looking through a window at others sitting together in a room. The suspicion intensified that this wasn't really real when we noticed the in-studio mass attendees shaking hands during the sign of piece, and receiving communion from the cup; it seemed likely that the whole thing had been pre-recorded, perhaps even 2-3 weeks earlier (the decree not to receive from the cup, not to shake hands etc. is more than a week old now).
But despite that sense of synthetic reality, I was surprised at how much it "worked" for me spiritually. I was grateful to hear the Gospel reading of the Woman at the Well this morning. I was grateful to have a homily to think about. The music wasn't too bad at all. And, taking a tip from Katherine, I tried to make a spiritual communion.
If it's not the real thing, it's better than nothing.
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ReplyDeleteScores of churches in Ireland and, more recently, parts of England live stream Sunday, and many daily as well, at
ReplyDeletehttps://www.churchservices.tv/
They have been "improving" the service since I discovered it, and, imo, the improvements have made it less attractive and more complicated. But there you are.
You can't make this up, but, truly, the first two homilies I heard from Ireland were both on the same subject: Don't be a begrudger.
I also once experienced (most of) The Roman Catholic Mass in the Anglican Tradition. Once a sociologist, second time a voyeur.
I rarely stick with it for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It seems almost disrespectful to sit at my computer for a consecration. But I do find the homilies both similar and dissimilar to what you hear on U.S. churches.
Dancing is closed down for now which makes good sense. I could use the break. I'll be using the time to address home projects. I will still go to the gym and spray down the surfaces. A 71 year old body does not forgive layoffs and my gym is not densely populated. More outdoor activities like hiking. I did a bit of that on the weekend.
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law used to say that if people spend too much time by themselves they get odd. I didn't relate to that very much, having never spent much time alone; coming from a big family and marrying young. But now I do understand what she meant. I hope the necessary distancing won't go on too long. Or else we may all get "odd".
ReplyDeleteWell, I live a pretty isolated life as it is. Most of our closest friends over the years have moved away, and, sadly many of our friend-neighbors for more than 45 years have died. Neither of us work in offices anymore, and I have had to give up going to talks and classes because of my serious hearing loss. I do miss that, but it's been several years now and I'm getting used to it. It is one of the reasons I am so grateful for this group.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, as an introvert, and a person who prefers silent prayer to spoken, non-ritual worship to ritual worship, and small group prayer to big group prayer, this isn't a hardship for me personally.
But for those of you for whom this is a real hardship, I offer this - it was shared on FB by a college friend (once Catholic, who became a minister in the United Church of Christ when in middle age). She regularly shares wisdom from her protestant minister friendships.
we haven't cancelled worship;
we've cancelled a religious service
at a specific time, in a specific place,
on a specific day, but folks will still
worship God when they are caring
for the grandkids and walking their dogs;
worship as they serve beside Jesus at foodbanks
and picking up groceries for a neighbor;
worship when they share the Spirit's peace
by singing songs over the phone to a parent;
worship when they work from home;
worship when they endure extra shifts
in nursing homes and group homes;
worship when they email someone far away
and wave to a stranger across the street;
worship when they take toilet paper
to a homeless shelter
and volunteer at a polling place.
we haven't cancelled worship,
just the "official" part
that may be the smallest part
of it all.
(c) 2020 Thom M. Shuman
Anne, thanks for that. Naturally, I don't really agree with your friend :-).
DeleteBut let me offer this as something similar. This is from Kevin Williamson at National Review - he is a conservative pundit whom I referenced in a different thread a few days ago. He wrote this in regard to churches being closed:
"If Americans are, as I hope they are, turning to prayer in these anxious times, then they will be obliged to do so as the earliest apostles did, in their homes and in small groups. Thomas Merton argued that the monastery is not a retreat from the world but the very center of it, the place where truth is encountered and where real life is lived genuinely. If we are to have retreats necessitated by public hygiene, we might enter into those retreats with something of Merton’s spirit. We are not running away from anything but toward something. Stocking up on canned soup and Lysol is not the only preparation that is needful."
Are anyone's parishes doing real-time rosaries or stations by remote feed? Parish leaders could go a long way to provide outreach through social media. Just wondering ...
ReplyDeleteJim, two things made my day today. First was pushing my grocery cart past the empty meat counter just as someone pushed out a cart of boxes full of chicken. I use a lot of boneless chicken breasts and hadn’t been able to restock my dwindling supply. So I grabbed a few packages and moved on . He had probably 15 large cartons to put on the shelves - with many packages in each carton. When I passed the meat department again about 15 minutes later, the meat shelves were empty again.
ReplyDeleteEven better than being at the right place at the right time to restock chicken was learning that a conservative commentator for National Review has embraced Merton. A sign of hope that his heart and the corporate heart of NR might become open to the light. ;)
Virtual Liturgy is a regular and very important part of my life.
ReplyDeleteOne of my early posts on this blog was about virtual liturgy which includes Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer as well as the Eucharist
Lord's Day Music; Digital Communities
I suspect a lot of information and links are out of date. When things settle down I may make a current post.
Yesterday the Notre Dame Mass was there as usual live at 10am Eastern. It was sparsely attended, their students have been sent home. There was an organist and cantor to lead the community in song. This service is archived at CatholicTV
The National Cathedral (Episcopal) was closed but they still celebrated the Eucharist with organist and an ensemble of four cantors plus ministers. This service is archived at their website.
Saint Thomas (Episcopal) was closed with no broadcasting for both their Eucharist and Choral Evening Prayer.
Since we regularly amplify both audio and video on site, I do not see much of a difference between live virtual broadcast and in person broadcast. I have a sense of their community and its ministries much as I have in our local parishes.
One might object that their ministers have little sense of my participation. However this could easily be remedied by the additional of blogs somewhat like our own which would allow people across the country to network both nationally and locally.
One might object that with regard to Eucharist that it can be received only spiritually. However that was the normal mode for the laity for many centuries with communion reserved for Christmas and Easter.
I guess I was thinking more about local parishes trying to maintain a sense of community, say priests speaking specifically to their people with a weekly address, rather than than just directing people to a televised Mass any old where.
DeleteOr maybe that's Protestant thinking. Catholic parishes have cliques, clubs, and subgroups. But maybe the sense of being a united parish community is less important to Catholics than one's affiliation with the universal Church.
My friend flipped from RC to Evangelical Lutheran a while back. Her church is streaming and also posts the service on YouTube. My church does televise on the local cable channel.
DeleteI'd say the sense of being a parish community is quite important to Catholics. A weekly address from the pastor would be very helpful, or at least I think so.
DeleteI doubt if Catholics are alone among denominations in having cliques, clubs, and subgroups.
How big is your parish, Katherine? My RC parish of 30 years had 4000 registered families, 7 masses every weekend, and never felt like a community. Lucky if you recognized anyone at mass. The church seats 700.
DeleteAnne, your former parish is about the same size as the ones out here. Ours, which is one of the smaller ones, has 3,000 registered families.
DeleteI think the word "community" means different things in different contexts. If my parish has 10,000 registered individuals (which is approx. what our 3,000 families translates to), it's not humanly possible for everyone to know everyone else - the same would be true of the residents of a town of 10,000 other residents. At that large a scale, the communal common experience consists of shared identity, shared leadership and shared public/common areas.
For the sense of what I think is meant by "community" in our conversation here, smaller groups are needed. Catholic parishes provide many such small-group opportunities - for parishioners who are willing to get involved. For example: I serve in our Outreach ministry, our Worship Commission and on the parish leadership team, all of which are smaller groups. It is in these smaller groups that one develops genuine personal relationships and friendships. These are the "ties that bind" from a personal/relational standpoint. A typical parish offers many such opportunities, and if the parish has a school, many school-related smaller groups as well.
Our experience in this parish, and I think it is typical of parish life, is that a variation of the 80/20 rule comes into play: the same 20% of the parishioners are active in 80% of the parish teams and activities. (In our case, it is more like 5-10% who are active). The 80% who aren't active in these smaller groups are, in a sense, The Blob. A parish that is serious about undertaking the New Evangelization would figure out how to reach out to The Blob and get them more plugged in, beyond getting sacramental milestones for their kids and having their parents buried, with an occasional Christmas or Easter mass in between. Our parish leaders would love nothing more than to create more programs and groups for them. But The Blob doesn't come. It's a difficult puzzle to solve. And it's not just within a parish social organization. I've lived in this house for nearly 30 years and have no more than a nodding acquaintance with most of my neighbors. People are less apt to make personal connections than they used to.
Katherine, yes, sorry, cliques, clubs and subgroups exist in other denominations. I didn't mean to imply they didn't.
DeleteJim and Anne, I had no idea parishes were still that large. Nothing like that in my area.
As a Blog Person, I honestly don't think we're reachable. We know we're Bad Catholics, and we don't want to get coralled in a group or program where the Good Catholics will find out bad we are. The Church may make more of a difference to the Blob people than you think. But they may not want to take it further than that.
Jean, There are no Good Catholics, only sinners and Church Ladies. In the new book, Jesus Wasn't Killed by the Jews, Robert Ellsberg quotes a line from a remembered homily:
Delete"There are two kinds of people in the Gospels: the Good Religious People and the sinners Jesus loved."
A thought I hope to carry into Easter.
Tom, we hope that at least sometimes the Good Religious People and the sinners Jesus loved are the same people. Or as Mr. Rogers put it, "The very same people who are good sometimes, are the very same people who are bad sometimes..." I wish no one would think of themselves as "bad Catholics". If they're Baptized, they're in, if they want to be.
DeleteOur parish has around 750 registered families. I don't know all of them by any means. I think Jim's 20 80 rule is sort of true here. I think my husband knows most of the families at least by sight. He and the pastor stand outside and greet people after Mass. Some deacon wives do that as well, but I don't, being rather an introvert. I do try and at least say "Good morning" to those I meet going into the church. We are pretty much a "come as you are" parish. Some people dress up. Some wear jeans and t shirts. It doesn't matter. I think it is true that it is easier to form friendships in smaller groups. Joining choir is always how I have found connection in parishes. We have had to do a bit of job related moving around in our married life, this is the fourth parish we have belonged to. Nothing like a military family goes through, of course.
Well, our archbishop just shut down all public celebrations of Mass. It's probably for the best, since the ones who were showing up the most were elderly and handicapped people, at least in our parish. They are the ones who would be hit the hardest by the virus. But it hurts.
ReplyDeleteI can see two possible outcomes once we are allowed to gather again. One is that our temporary deprivation will give us a new appreciation of our communal celebrations of the Eucharist. That is the outcome I hope for. The other possibility is that people will just get used to staying away.
We had already reluctantly decided not to go to our granddaughter's First Communion in Omaha next Sunday, since about 90% of the cases in the state are in Omaha. But now it will probably be postponed until later, and hopefully we'll be able to go by then.
Our parish has perpetual adoration, I don't know what they will do about that. Usually there is only one person at a time, but it is done in a small closed side chapel. I will probably do my hour out in the main church. I hope they will encourage that.
I haven't heard what they will do about Anointing of the Sick and Viaticum.
"I can see two possible outcomes once we are allowed to gather again. One is that our temporary deprivation will give us a new appreciation of our communal celebrations of the Eucharist. That is the outcome I hope for. The other possibility is that people will just get used to staying away."
DeleteMy guess is that you'll get some of each.
This priest in Milan told his parishioners that he was praying for them and asked that they send their photos and selfies so that he could remember them at Mass
ReplyDeletehere
That was nice. I like the part about taping their pictures to the pews. They are there in spirit if not physically.
DeleteLovely! Americans won't do this stuff. They just sit at home and bitch that there are no sports and the bars are closed.
DeleteJim, what is your parish going to do about funerals? I haven't heard yet what we are doing, this is new territory. My guess is probably having graveside rites with immediate family, and having a memorial Mass later, when we are out of quarantine.
ReplyDeleteAnother great question to which I don't know the answer. I rarely do funerals, vigils or burials at our parish, primarily because most funerals are during the work day. (Through Rest in His Arms we do bury abandoned children, but thankfully there have been almost none of them in the last few years.)
DeleteOne thing I've learned about in the last few days is that our ministers of care who bring communion to hospitals and nursing homes are being turned away, especially from the nursing homes. From a public health standpoint, it's understandable, but spiritually it's worrisome. I am wondering if there is a way that nurses or other employees who would otherwise be on-site can somehow be drafted as Eucharistic ministers.
My dad has not been able to make it to Mass for about three months due to balance issues. My sister got herself commissioned as an EMHC so she could take him Communion at home. That is Grand Island Diocese. To do that ministry there you just talk to the church lady in charge, she tells you how it's done, and you're good to go. They are rural, and really short of priests, they don't turn down volunteers for anything. But this week my sis tells me that they suspended Communion to the nursing homes. I don't see why a nurse could not be drafted as a Eucharistic minister if they were willing.
DeleteKatherine and Jim, when my oldest son was born he had to spend 9 days in the neo-natal ICU. A priest who was a family friend was in town, and he insisted on baptizing our son even though he was not in mortal danger. There were a couple of Catholic nurses in the NICU. We all put on gowns, and with the nurses' help, he baptized our son with (sterile) water. A few months later we had 'ceremonies" in the church.
DeleteAnne, I've heard that that happens, but I don't think I've heard of an actual instance of it till now. Regarding the "ceremonies", I assume he wasn't actually baptized again, but maybe was anointed, given the gown and so on?
DeleteYes - he wasn't re-baptized. But he was anointed,wore the family christening gown, etc and we had a big family brunch. Unfortunately it was the same day as the biggest snowstorm of the winter and most everyone left after eating almost none of the food that I had been preparing for days! Good thing though that they did - we ended ukp with 3' and we would have had a lot of overnight guests for a while since our street is among the last to be plowed in our neighborhood. My husband cleared some snow off our back deck, I held up our son standing and we took a photo - the snow was over his head of course.
DeleteAnne, that is nice that the priest did that, and I'm sure was a good story to tell your son later.
DeleteIn a sad story of a hospital baptism; my grandmother had a baby girl in 1938. It was obvious from the start that she was in trouble. The nurse who attended the birth was Protestant, but she knew that my grandma was Catholic and would want the baby baptized. So she baptized her. The name my grandparents had picked out for a girl was Karen, but the nurse didn't know that and baptized her as Mary. That is the name that is on her gravestone, unfortunately she didn't make it. Even though Grandma didn't believe that the baby wouldn't be saved without Baptism, she always said it was a comfort that she had been baptized, and never forget the kind deed of the nurse. A lay person can baptize in an emergency, and they don't have to be Catholic. I'm not even sure they have to be a believer at all.
Katherine - that is a very moving story. Thank you for writing it.
DeleteKatherine, that does make me sad. We were lucky. One of the nurses commented after the baptism that it was "nice to have a happy baptism for a change".
DeleteJim, I finally found out how the EC priest in DC got the coronavirus. There had been a big meeting of Episcopal leaders in Lexington KY. The conference included some small group meetings. Six of the priests at one of those meetings (from different states, so it took a little longer to connect the dots) contracted the disease. Don't know who was the person who was infected when they got there. All have recovered.
Apropos of nothing, another thing the stores are running out of is beer. A member of my household is a little bummed because there is no Bud Lite with lime to be had. I suppose St. Paddy's Day might have something to do with the shortage.
ReplyDeleteI have three cans of Monk in the Trunk, but if he drinks Lite he probably wouldn't be interested.
DeleteFWIW, our choir director sent out a note today, officially cancelling choir practice until further notice, and predicting that Triduum will not happen in our church this year. It is surreal.
ReplyDeleteI read an article in Religion News Service about what Italians are doing who are missing communion and their parish. One parish has formed a chat group. Some other interesting things in the article. The photo of the pope standing at the window and not a person in sight in St Peter’s square.
Deletehttps://religionnews.com/2020/03/17/in-italy-communion-is-stronger-than-quarantine/
You'd think kids would be happy not having to go to school. But the grandchildren are missing their friends and their teachers, and the more structured routine. Their school is doing online lessons, but they are having a hard time staying focused and motivated. I'm sure they'll adjust, but grown-ups aren't the only ones who are feeling out of sync.
ReplyDelete