Parishes offering mix of in-person, virtual options for Mass and ministries

Livestream Masses were a blessing for Jason and Jen Schmit and their newborn baby boy, as the statewide stay-at-home order began in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though the couple’s parish, St. John the Baptist in Jordan, resumed in-person Masses in May, they continued attending via livestream for most of the summer to avoid exposing their baby and eight other children to the virus.

When they did return to the pews in August, the Schmits said both Mass options have been helpful.

“The fact (is) that the Church was there (during the stay-at-home order) and the Church was thinking about our situation and what we needed: ‘We understand you can’t get to Mass but here is your avenue to celebrate the Mass,’” Jason said.

Many Catholics have returned to in-person Masses, but others continue to rely on livestream Masses. And, as virus infection rates have risen exponentially in recent weeks, those who have been worshiping in person may return to screens at home. Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s dispensation from the Sunday Mass obligation, first granted in March, is still in effect.

The pandemic has brought not only Mass but many other parish ministries onto internet platforms this year as priests, staff and parishioners seek to stay safe while complying with COVID-19 social distancing protocols. Meanwhile, some parishes have restored certain ministries, such as faith formation, to in-person meetings, although recent guidance from state and Church leaders may move them back to virtual formats.

Gov. Tim Walz’s Nov. 18 executive order, in place until Dec 18, prohibits social gatherings between members of different households but permits distance, hybrid and other educational services. Places of worship, funeral homes, and other venues for weddings, funerals, and prayer and worship are advised to offer virtual alternatives while adhering to social distancing requirements for in-person services.

However, in a Nov. 20 letter, Archbishop Bernard Hebda asked parishes to focus on ministries “truly essential” to their mission, such as Mass, and move others online due to a statewide surge in COVID-19 cases.

At this point in the year, livestreamed Masses are no longer novel but continue to serve an important role. Virtual events and liturgies will likely continue beyond the pandemic, pastors and parish leaders said.

During the spring stay-at-home order, the archdiocese listed on its website 76 parishes that offered Masses and other opportunities for prayer on livestream, primarily on Facebook, YouTube or a website.

Livestreaming continues to meet a need, said Father T.J. McKenzie, pastor of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake. About 150 St. Pius X parishioners are watching the parish’s Mass via livestream, he noted. The technology also enables guests to attend weddings and funerals who otherwise couldn’t, so livestream will continue to be used after the pandemic ends, he noted.

“What we began to see is this wasn’t just going to be a short-term aspect of our ministry,” he said. “We saw it as being able to fulfill ministry and the people’s needs, even post-COVID.”

Though most parishes have offered in-person Masses since the summer, pastors are finding that some parishioners haven’t returned to in-person worship, despite parishes’ social distancing protocols.

Meg Payne Nelson, the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota’s vice president of impact, hasn’t returned to in-person Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis even though she and her family want to, because Nelson has an underlying health condition that increases her risk of complications from the virus.

“What I hope doesn’t happen is that it’s a measure of ‘how Catholic you are’ by how many risks you’re willing to take,” she said.

At St. John the Baptist in Jordan, leaders have noted lower in-person Mass attendance, and that 10% of families who would typically enroll their children in the faith formation program chose not to, said Father Neil Bakker, pastor.

The parish offered in-person instruction only, partly because volunteers have difficulty giving simultaneous in-person and virtual lessons, he said. But, videoconferencing apps such as Zoom have proven convenient for parish ministries, especially for older parishioners who are more at risk of serious complications from the virus, Father Bakker said.

At St. Michael in St. Michael, October attendance at in-person Masses at the parish was down 40% from 2019. However, first Communion instruction and classes for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults were offered in person this fall at the parish because the instruction is more predictable than social gatherings, and involved social distancing and masks, said Father Brian Park. St. Michael’s roughly 100-member teen discipleship groups met virtually in the spring and have since met in person, though they’ll probably return to meeting virtually, he said.

Both Father Park and Father Bakker have noted that faith formation students do better when in classrooms than virtually.

St. Joseph in West St. Paul’s finance council has met on Zoom since last March and probably will continue at least through June, said Ginny Dwyer, a finance council trustee. “It’s different but I think we still get the business done.”

While technology has allowed many events to continue that otherwise may have not, parish leaders observe some disadvantages for ministry. One is losing personal connection, Dwyer said. “Sometimes when you’re in a meeting, you’re looking around to see how other people are thinking or reacting. … You don’t do that in a Zoom meeting.”

It also may tempt some Catholics to put off returning to in-person Masses out of the comfort of livestreaming, said Father McKenzie. He worries whether it will be hard for some Catholics to re-form the habit.

Nelson, for one, looks forward to returning to in-person worship. “We don’t have the same level of a commitment to it as we did as a family in person, and as we will again as a family in person,” she said.

When pandemic restrictions are lifted, Father Bakker said he plans to temporarily stop the parish’s livestream to encourage parishioners to return to in-person Mass.

Father Park likewise encourages parishioners to return when the pandemic ends.

“When we do, God willing, get through this and open the pews back up fully, please come back,” he said. “We miss you.”Susan Klemond