Dear Parish Family: As you know, Fr. Bill has taken this week off to catch up on some rest and relaxation. It is well deserved! Covid-19 safety measures and social distancing have presented all Catholic parishes with challenges and we are no different. The uncertainty of the virus and vaccination has altered just about everything that we do as a parish. Like all of you, we have had to adapt to our constantly changing world. It is stressful!
There are so many questions about the future. We have no idea what parish life will look like in a post-Covid world. Will people come back to in-person worship? Have folks gotten used to watching Mass in their PJs? How many parishioners have simply drifted away? Will faith formation ever be held in-person or is hybrid/remote learning here to stay? Will we truly be a community again? So many questions and no real answers.
I was thinking…Our pandemic experiences can be compared to the experiences of the early Church. Early Christians did not go to church, they were the church; they did not attend church services, they made an impact in their community by the way they lived. Their gathering was not the end goal, but as a way to equip themselves to be the people God wanted them to be and do the work God wanted them to do.
So…the real coronavirus crisis is not how our worship and programs are affected. The real crisis is when a parishioner passes away, when the financially challenged cannot buy enough food for their family, or when parishioners lose their jobs. How do we as a community respond?
The pandemic has presented a lot of challenges, but also a lot of opportunities. We have the opportunity, like the first Christians, to think beyond ourselves. Have ideas on how to keep the community together in our Covid world? Let me know!