Leadership, Live Streams and Living in Faith
When the announcement filtered down from Bishop Crosby that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all masses, funerals, baptisms and marriages in Hamilton were to be cancelled until further notice, the pastoral team at St Patrick’s, knew they would have to get creative to stay in touch with worshipers.
The 16-person team gathered to figure out how they would best serve the congregation—the idea of live streaming the service online was their first option.
The platform was a natural choice; Facebook would allow them to stream the service and give followers of the St Patrick’s parish page a notification when they went live with content, but what they didn’t have was the equipment necessary to make it happen.
“We [the pastoral team] had been thinking about live streaming for quite some time, but we never really did anything about it. The news, that church would be cancelled one day before the feast of our patron saint, St. Patrick, meant we were going to have a crash course in video production,” says Father Jarek Pachocki, OMI. “We had to install cameras and get the equipment necessary to make it happen very very quickly.”
If anyone tuned into the very first broadcast, they would have seen the trial and error that the team went through to get the inaugural live stream up and running.
“The first mass that we did was on an iPhone. We went live on St Patrick’s day, and we didn’t turn off the filters. So, I began mass with googly eyes the first couple of minutes until we figured out what was happening,” says Father Pachocki laughing about the experience and the end result.
But practice makes perfect. With a few more live streams now under their belt, the team has expanded the online services.
In addition to the Sunday masses of 11:30 a.m. and 7:15 p.m., an almost daily weekday mass is being offered as well. Parishioners can now tune in to the St Patrick’s Facebook page Tuesday through Friday starting at 12:15 p.m. for daily worship.
Father Tony O’Dell, OMI, is quick to recognize the people that made it all possible. “Without the help of Ian Ford, JC Asuncion, Brother Dan Dionne and Joey Allain, live streaming wouldn’t be possible; we are very grateful for their dedication.”
For anyone wondering if the pastoral team is keeping up with the production of the church bulletin News from the Pews, you can read the digital version online every week.
The team is also actively reaching out to seniors who may not be on social media, to ensure they are taken care of and if they need any help.
“Most of the responses so far are, I’m fine, but I appreciate the phone call. They just appreciate that someone cares, the simple phone call of how you are doing, is important,” says Father Pachocki.
The pastoral team is now in search of the next idea that may help connect the St. Patrick’s congregation. They are meeting virtually with the Church of the Nativity in Baltimore, Maryland, who themselves have found creative ideas to connect with people, before and during this pandemic.
“This may be our new normal for quite some time, we are continually trying to find ways of how we can be present for the people,” says Father Pachocki.
By Nadia Matos
