Items

Advanced search

Saint Dymphna

Tweet from Tommy Tighe (@theghissilent), reading: "looking at the image of saint dymphna we have hanging on our wall and asking for her intercession for all of us remember, mental health symptoms are not a result of a personal failure, not a result of failing to believe enough or have enough faith I’m praying for you!!"
Going Viral: St. Ambrose Parish, Father Tim Palec, and the Blessing of the Easter Foods

In mid-May, Father Tim Palec went viral for the way he maintained St. Ambrose's traditional Blessing of the Easter Food Baskets. Dressed in protective gear and using a water gun, Father Palec maintained social distance while carrying out the traditional blessings in a nontraditional manner. The drive-thru blessing took place on April 11, but quickly became viral about a month later (even appearing in several news articles). An image of Father Palec with the water gun made its way to a subreddit called r/photoshopbattles, where redditors photoshopped Father Palec onto movie posters and into a multitude of different scenes, ranging from Star Wars to World War II to exoricisms to a crusade and more. In addition to becoming a viral meme, the church has also stood out for the way it has honored and memorialized Michigan's victims of COVID-19: they've tied a ribbon for each life lost on the trees in front of their church. St. Ambrose Parish offers Sunday mass through Facebook live and their website, and shares posts about different ways members can help the greater community during the pandemic.
Lawn Chair Church Service

We were able with permission of our state and local governments to resume church services this week but it had to be outside with social distancing. It was so wonderful to see everyone again. It was like a big family reunion. We all brought lawn chairs and sat outside and worshipped our Lord. There was a special section of parking spots reserved for those at high risk so they could come and be a part of things from their cars. And it was still live streamed for those who didn’t want to leave their house or couldn’t. We sang together and prayed together. It was so wonderful. Through all of this I have learned how wonderful it is to worship with your church family. Thankful for Zoom and live-streaming but nothing beats being together.
Covid Tears

I describe a piece of fiber art I created related to how I felt before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
Study on the Effect of Isolation on the Prayer Lives of Catholic Illini

Study on the effect of isolation on the prayer lives of Catholic students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Sunday Worship in a New Way

When the Governor of Texas issued an order forbidding gatherings of more than 10, the staff of this smallish congregation pivoted rather nimbly. The earlier videos of worship experiences are more like traditional worship than not. They gradually grow less dependent on the church sanctuary. We have not previously had much of a web presence.
Reverend

We started livestreaming our worship on Facebook (photo with pianist) from the sanctuary (3 or 4 of us in attendance), and doing our Bible studies, prayer meetings and other meetings on Zoom (Zoom photo). We've found a HUGE increase in attendance, and connections every Sunday with people who used to be just Christmas/Easter worshipers. Giving has actually increased, and people are doing a great job of staying connected in so many ways. It's been eye-opening. We've definitely learned that we'll continue livestreaming after the pandemic, and probably should have been doing it all along.
Andrew Wommack Ministries Newsletter

Pastor Andrew Wommack, who is a friend of my Mom has been sending out newsletters to the millions who follow or belong to his church. That highlight developments in the ministry and answers to the questions he has been getting in response to adapting to the current pandemic.
At Home Communion

Since churches have been closed my Mother and my grandmother have been doing at communion at home at the regular time we would have been doing it at church service. The steps are the same, a short message from scripture followed by thanking Christ for sacrificing His body. After thanks, they partake in the eating of the bread. After that they give thanks for the blood shed on the cross, and then partake in the drinking of the wine. Be able to participate in communion anywhere is great and I am blessed that this ritual is not halted due to the pandemic.
Church Service at Home

My brother's church National Community Church have have been hosting online services and worship open to anyone who wants to join. Services take place on Saturday @ 5pm and Sunday @ 9am & 11am. This is a great way for anyone who is missing their usual church gatherings to enjoy an amazing worship band, and insightful sermon.
Easter from behind the steering wheel

This year's Easter service was unlike any I have experienced before. Unable to gather together face-to-face, we sought to be together (while remaining appropriately socially distanced) by having a drive-in service in the church parking lot, complete with music and sermon being broadcast over the radio. Noting this strikingly unusual view of an Easter bulletin -- juxtaposed against a steering wheel and a rainy windshield -- I snapped a photo.
Burial Rituals and COVID

This is my reflection on the inability of my family to gather together to mourn my brother's death, to conduct services and to bury him.
God The Ingenious Alchemist and The Path of Healing

This online church service incorporates live music, scripture, children's time, and a sermon to talk about some of the challenges surrounding COVID and the healing process.
Religion Out The Window

This is an article from my blog, offbeatcompassion. I am a board certified hospice chaplain. The article is about how a priest and a family and a hospice patient figured out how to have the Sacrament of the Sick in a meaningful and safe way. The location was at the patient's home.
Pandemic Religion: A Digital Archive

We are a small church of about 40 people and it's hard being apart as they become nearly like a second family. We meet daily for a morning prayer session and read some scriptures. Then on Sunday we have out normal church service. All this is through Zoom. It not only strengthen's our belief, but also makes us feel not so alone.
Committee Resolution

When I was going through confirmation classes as a teenager at First Presbyterian Church in Tyler Texas, I was told an old joke to illustrate our church’s form of governance. “How many Presbyterians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Four: one to propose the motion to get a new bulb, two to carry the motion, and one to actually screw in the new light.” We’re a bunch governed by committee, we gather in a group, sit in a circle, and arrive at a quorum, and that’s just for social gatherings (sometimes there’s a cheeseball but that has more to do with the small-town ambiance of it all). These last couple years as a college student my committee designate has been in youth leadership, Wednesday night bible study circles is where I can usually be found. Since being in Austin for school, I’ve helped lead out at Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian after a recruitment call during my freshman year from my old youth pastor who came to the capital for bigger better things. Plaguetime might have thrown a wrench in the system of our regular meetings and my active participation had new technologies not enabled us to gather in our customary decision-making circles with relative ease. Admittedly we look a little like the Jedi Council meeting via hologram, each of our faces illuminated by blue light and voices ringing with the tinny hollowness of laptop speakers, but still we gather, and still we nominate, propose, pass and carry orders of business, chasing the feeling of being in agreement with one another.
Collecting food for two Fairfax food banks

On May 9, 2020, Truro Anglican Church held a food drive for two food banks in Fairfax. Parishioners dropped off groceries from the trunks of their cars, which masked church staff stored in a long hallway. Later church volunteers drove the food to two different food banks. We learned that food banks measure food in pounds, as shown on the receipt from one of the food banks. This is just a small effort towards meeting the needs of our community.
Helping deliver food to a food bank

On Saturday, Truro had drive-by distribution of communion wafers, collected graduation cards for graduating seniors, and collected food for area food banks. I was lazy, and wrote a check rather than providing food. The church collected FAR MORE food than anticipated, and filled the glass breezeway. So, they asked for help today to deliver the food to the area food banks. Because I had today off, I was able to help. It really weighed down my car! The place is on Prosperity Avenue between Lee Highway and Arlington Blvd. We delivered so much (4 car loads, plus a pickup) that we overwhelmed them, unfortunately, while they were trying to distribute to needy people. Another set of cars and a pickup took other loads to the Shirlington section of Arlington. Unfortunately, we might need to do food collection multiple times over the next several months.
Centreville Baptist Church collects for food bank at local grocery store

At the local Giant grocery store, Centreville Baptist Church of Virginia was collecting food donations for their food bank.
Cyberspace & Faith

Raised with a set of loose reins in the Catholic faith, I eventually grew up into a young adult who lacked the spiritual and ethereal connection with God that appeared to be present among so many others in my community. Prior to the virus, I had come to a point in my life where I did not often attend Sunday mass with my family, as I had proclaimed a more secular sense of religion in the later years of my teens. Nonetheless, when COVID-19 hit my local Catholic Church causing it to move all of its practices online, including Easter services, it was as though we were enduring a micro-revolution. From friends around my age reaching out personally to ask about donating blood, to my grandmother’s friends leading community zoom calls among the elderly in an effort to maintain morale, a new class of leaders had emerged from a congregation once lacking in motivation; or more aptly a call to action. Furthermore, with the transition to so many cyberspace venues and constant presence in the realm of social media, there has been a reemergence of people who had loose affiliations within the church, such as myself, which in turn has motivated those who were simply once weekly attendees of mass, to stand up and create even more ways in which the religious experience can be shared. Quite frankly, it’s almost as though the priest at my church has faded into ambiguity while youth leaders have made social services and bible study accessible for what appears to be 24 hours each day.
Savina's Beliefs

This pandemic has made video calling the social norm, which has helped me reconnect with one of my old friends, Savina. Savina is an artist studying holistic medicine. She also practices Catholicism, and often reflects on her own beliefs. We discuss things like folk medicine, mental health, and meditation. I'm agnostic, but our conversations often lead to spirituality and beliefs, which has been really enjoyable. Her primary knowledge is in Mexican folk medicine and culture. She taught me how to perform Limpia con huevo, or egg cleansing, which is a method rooted in Mexican Catholicism for removing curses or bad energy. We've also talked about the effects of religion on mental and physical health. I always thought that religion provided a sense of fulfillment, but she gave me multiple examples where her religion caused far more turmoil than necessary. Her religious knowledge is fascinating because she has a personal explanation for each of her beliefs, which has given her well-deserved confidence around Catholicism. She is also knowledgable about and respectful towards so many other religions. I'm constantly impressed.
Grieving During the Pandemic

About a month into quarantine, my family and I got the news that my uncle had a stroke. He was in pretty bad shape, and no one, not even his own children, was allowed to visit him in the ICU. After being there for a little over a week, he passed away. It was only until after he died that his immediate family was able to see him, then he was taken away to a funeral home. As Catholics, whenever someone dies, we always hold a rosary ceremony. This allows us to see our loved one, support the family, and pray the rosary as a group. However, because of social distancing, we weren’t allowed to hold a rosary or mass. Having to practice social distancing has made a very difficult time even more difficult. Family unity is an extremely important part of Hispanic culture, and we can’t grieve the same way anymore. All contact with my other family members has had to be through phone or video calls. Some of my family have even resorted to using social media as a way to share what they would have said in a eulogy. It feels so strange and impersonal not to be able to interact with our family in person during such a devastating time.
Church at Home

I am part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In my local area (near Seattle, WA) our leaders have held a devotional over Zoom every Sunday morning. The devotional includes prayers, 2 or 3 short talks or sermons, and sometimes music. But what the Zoom calls do not include is access to receiving the Sacrament. Our local leadership has been careful to make sure everyone has proper access to this important Sacrament. Many households contain someone who is ordained to administer this rite, but mine does not. So after the Zoom call I travel a short distance to another family's home to take the Sacrament.
Self-Isolation & Spiritual Experimentation

I have self-identified as an “optimistic agnostic” ever since denouncing my Catholic upbringing during my senior year of high school; I don’t know if there is a higher power or ruling spirit, but I like to think that there is and that I can show respect and worship that higher power through my daily actions. Graduating and moving to college did not give me much time to think about delving deeper into my spirituality, let alone research religions and practices that resonated with my personal beliefs. I’ve lived mostly secularly for about 2.5 years. When the panic of COVID-19 spread to Texas, I was immediately worried about my subpar immune system, so I began self-isolation on March 12, 2020. Being locked in my apartment with my roommate and cat from the jump led to a lot of free time, most of which has been spent on our balcony overlooking the small Austin park behind our complex. Sitting near the trees and submerging myself in nature reminded me of my mom walking our property with 6-year-old me to teach me about nature, and I realized that I felt closer to a higher power during those hikes with my mom than I ever did while sitting with her in a Catholic mass. This epiphany has allowed me to better define the religious ideas that fit into my moral code, and my free time at home has allowed me to research various religions and belief systems. I am in the process of exploring my spirituality through various forms of prayer, meditation, and worship in the comfort of my home. I believe that this is a perfect time for people with secular lifestyles to consider what is important to them and try to find brand new aspects of spirituality in their daily lives.
Hope filled Anxiety

As many individuals would say COVID-19 has turned a lot of things in our lives upside down. I am a Christian about to graduate from UT Austin and support raising to join the staff of the church I call my home. Along with those individuals, I would say this pandemic has drastically shifted my idea of what was to come next; however, amid my uncertainty, frustration, intense anxiety, and the loss of my ability to tell time I have seen and heard of healing. I myself would consider myself a pretty anxious person. During this pandemic, I had my first panic attack and hopefully my last. What I saw as I calmed down from the help of my roommates was people coming alongside me and providing comfort in any way possible. I was able to see just how anxious I had been for the weeks of COVID that had already passed. As I have shared that with individuals in my life, I have heard stories of understanding and words of love. While I am not grateful for this pandemic it has been sweet to walk closely with my roommates and to see how individuals are still seeking each other out. The picture I included is from a zoom call of individuals in my ministry watching the live stream of music from our church. Yet there are many times we have come together to proclaim Christ’s name and pray for the people of this earth, where we have encouraged each other and expressed our longing to be together. While I am in no way thankful to see people die, I am grateful to see how this is bringing a lot of people together. Bringing people together to rely on each other and their faith as they seek a way to move forward. So even as I battle anxiety surrounding our world there is a hope that I have. One day we will all commune together in person again and it will be a sweet time.