Pandemic’s end may be in sight, but many parishes continue Mass livestreaming

YouTube, Facebook, parish websites — all now offer livestream Masses from parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. But before COVID-19 hit Minnesota in March 2020, most of those parishes had never livestreamed a single Sunday Mass.

With in-person Masses suspended for two months to help prevent spread of the virus, parishes suddenly scrambled to gather or purchase cameras, computers, soundboards, expertise and volunteers. They were anxious to continue offering the sacrament of the Eucharist to their parishioners — at least remotely.

Now, as the pandemic wanes thanks to vaccines, pastors, parish staff and parishioners prepare for the July 1 end of a 15-month suspension of the requirement to attend Sunday Mass. Parishes are weighing the costs and benefits of continuing to livestream their daily or weekly Masses.

Questions include whether livestreaming makes staying home and away from in-person Mass too easy, whether the monetary investment is “paying off” in terms of reaching people and evangelizing, and how best to invite people back to in-person Mass while offering an online alternative.

After an initial investment for software and other needs, it cost Holy Name of Jesus in Medina about $500 a week to hire someone and devote the necessary staff time to record, produce and share Sunday Mass via Facebook, YouTube and the parish website. The cost and a desire to emphasize in-person Mass has prompted the parish to offer its last online Mass the weekend of June 27, said Michelle Hudlow, director of information technology and communications.

“The Eucharist is just too important, and people are better connected to God and each other when they are in the building together,” Hudlow said. “Our focus is really on connecting with people.”

Connections and evangelization

At the same time, connecting people and evangelization are two reasons some parishes plan to continue offering Mass online.

“We have discovered some real and ongoing needs,” said Father Tom Wilson, pastor of All Saints in Lakeville, which increased its online presence when the pandemic hit by expanding its video uploads from only the homily to the entire Sunday Mass. The parish also purchased several more cameras.

“People who are homebound or confined to care centers, even without the pandemic, for them, it is a way to stay connected to their parish, and not just a regional or national broadcast,” Father Wilson said.

The parish also offers the Mass with an interpreter for the deaf on the second weekend of each month, and many people in the deaf community have learned of it and participate online, he said.

Livestreaming weddings and funerals during the pandemic also has been helpful, Father Wilson said. Still, the parish is considering its options going forward, as it weighs licensing requirements and other factors in offering the Mass online, he said.

St. Jerome in Maplewood has offered the Saturday vigil Mass live via YouTube since March 2020, and that will continue, said Mary Beth Hess, music director and the effort’s chief organizer, who learned how to livestream on the fly. Hess also livestreams daily Mass, a project she undertook on her own just to learn the ropes, which she’s grown to love. It’s been particularly helpful to seniors, the sick and disabled, she said.

“They could view Mass on TV, or other churches that were streaming Mass,” she said of those participating. “But they were so thankful to be able to see their dear St. Jerome church. To see Father Victor (Valencia, the pastor), the crucifix in front of the church, the statutes, the red carpeting … all of these things gave them comfort.”

The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis plans to continue livestreaming the Mass, which began with the pandemic and will be expanded from the main church to include daily Mass in a smaller chapel downstairs, said Mae Desaire, director of marketing and communications.

“We have found it a great outreach and growth tool” with people who are homebound, in nursing homes, former parishioners, and others around the country and even the world able to participate via livestream, she said.

Johan von Parys, the Basilica’s director of liturgy and the sacred arts, said the sacraments need to be celebrated in person, and now with the pandemic waning, attendance at in-person Mass is growing and encouraged, even while livestreaming will continue to be offered.

“It was with great pain (during the pandemic) that I embraced the fact that the only way to reach people was by livestream,” he said.

But Christ is present in several ways at the Mass, including in the Scriptures, and that has been a consolation, he said.

“We could at least listen to the Word of God proclaimed,” he said. “I know that Christ is present in the Word.”

Some people turn to the online Mass because they are ill or they’ve moved away, von Parys said. “For those who can’t join us, there is at least this,” he said.

Livestreaming also has been an avenue for evangelization, he said, particularly for people who are curious about the Church but uncomfortable with an in-person visit, or have fallen away from attending Mass but are contemplating a return. That has been the case with some members of his own family in Belgium, all of whom grew up attending Catholic schools, he said.

“I have taken great delight in seeing my siblings on the livestream,” he said. “‘Oh, I noticed you came to church with us,’” he might say to one. “So, it opens up a conversation.”

Last March, Our Lady of Peace in Minneapolis began recording its Saturday evening Mass and posting it at 7 a.m. each Sunday on YouTube. James Pike, the parish’s office manager, said the practice will continue as a tool for evangelization.

“A couple of people have watched, not been parishioners before, but have started to attend Mass in person,” Pike said. “One person was registered at another parish but had stopped attending there.”

Too easy?

Some people have expressed concern about making it too easy to stay home by livestreaming Mass, and many parishes have discussed that possibility. But none interviewed actually know that to have happened, and parish representatives believe that generally, people who participate in livestream Mass either have no other option or they are curious about the faith or a parish community.

“People taking time to watch online innately know that Mass is intended to be celebrated in person,” Pike said. “We’ve seen a lot of people come back” to in-person Mass, he said.

Father Wilson said he has heard those misgivings expressed, but has yet to see it himself.

“I haven’t seen any evidence of people staying home and just eating breakfast,” he said. “I know people worry about that, but so far, I have not experienced that directly.”

If people don’t realize that Mass needs to be celebrated in person, von Parys said, then the Church has failed in its teaching of the faith.

“We need to have beautiful, dignified celebrations of the Eucharist, and we need good catechism,” he said.

Every parish in the archdiocese also is making efforts to bring people back to in-person Mass and other ministries that were suspended, upended or course-corrected in the midst of the pandemic. Picnics and Father’s Day gatherings, outdoor ministry fairs, prayer opportunities and water games are among the offerings to help strengthen community.

Julie Craven, director of communications and strategic initiatives at Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, said she remembers well when she and her colleagues struggled and assisted one another to institute livestream options during the pandemic. With livestreaming Masses set to continue at Our Lady of Lourdes, the parish also is inviting people back to in-person events with a June 13-July 4 Healing Tent on parish property, she said. Various ministries will share what they do, and each of the three weeks will have special prayers centering on racial justice, healing for survivors of sexual violence and the nation’s political polarization.

“Let’s take a step back to get people to reconnect, see what a parish family looks like,” she said.

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Mary Beth Hess, music director at St. Jerome in Maplewood, learned on the fly during the height of the pandemic how to livestream Mass, and took on daily Mass as her own special project. Her husband, Frank, helps with the Saturday vigil livestreams. Forever changed by the experience, Hess can’t imagine stopping now.

Ever changed by a pandemic

By Mary Beth Hess

My life has been transformed by COVID-19. When everything shut down across America, of course we started live-streaming the Masses at St. Jerome. Our cameraman had to step down suddenly due to some family issues, so our pastor turned to me, the music director at the parish, to continue livestreaming the Masses. It was a major pivot for me, as I had no equipment and no experience.

St. Jerome bought equipment based on recommendations I received from professionals in the field, and within days, we were up and running. But no one knew how to run the equipment, another major pivot for me. I decided to attend daily Masses for a couple of days to learn how to run the equipment. My husband looked at me the third morning when I was getting up at 5:30 to get ready for Mass. “Who are you, and what did you do with my non-morning-person wife?” The second week, I decided to continue to attend daily Mass so that I could learn the equipment better. My husband, once again, turned to me and said, “This isn’t sustainable. You’ll never be able to get up every morning to stream the 7:15 a.m. Masses.”

But then I started hearing from people:

• Seniors who were too squeamish to attend Mass in-person, and were thankful for the stream from St. Jerome.
• A resident of a nursing home who used to attend daily Mass at St Jerome, and now was literally confined to her bedroom for weeks, if not months.
• Others who were sick or disabled. They could view Masses on TV, or other churches that were streaming Masses. But they were so thankful to be able to see their dear St. Jerome Church. To be able to see Father Victor, the crucifix in the front of church, the statues, the red carpeting — all of these things gave them comfort.

How could I quit? I truly believed I was on a “mission from God.” It wasn’t my idea to get up in the middle of the night to live-stream the 7:15 a.m. Mass! I never attended that Mass. I always preferred the noon Mass at Assumption in downtown St Paul. Noon was a much more reasonable time for Mass, I used to think.

Now, eight months later, I continue to get up at 5:45 a.m. to stream the daily Masses. How can I sleep in when I know that people are looking forward to “going to Mass at St. Jerome” every weekday morning? How can I sleep in when I know that dear sweet Louise is unable to attend in-person, but will cherish the stream from her nursing home room?

As I have streamed now for hundreds of mornings, I suddenly realized I was transformed by the Eucharist. You are what you eat, and I have drawn ever closer to Jesus. There have been many blessings during this pandemic, and this was definitely one for me. I found the silver lining.