No Going Back

Public Masses are set to resume in the Archdiocese of Detroit as is also happening in many other places across the country and also across the globe. Together with that the other day the clergy of Detroit had a Zoom Room teleconference with the Archbishop. In this session he unveiled some plans and proposals for the future shape of the Church of Detroit. I will not go into detail in this regard as the plan is for the Archbishop to unveil this proposal before the entire Archdiocese on Pentecost. I do not intend to steal his thunder!
However, let me just say that we will not be going back to the way things were before the pandemic hit.
And we shouldn't.
And having said that, let me set before you observations and ideas of my own for moving forward.
One item, in particular, stands out.
From these days we should have learned something, and if we learned well, then we should act on what we have learned.
One very strong lesson - modern technology can help us.
Use it!
We talk a lot about building communities, about reaching out beyond our doors, about sharing the Good News creatively.
Well . . .
Look at some of the things we have been doing in these past weeks.
Live streaming Masses - mostly Sundays but in some cases also daily. Before this entry into this strange and brave, new world, we already had Masses for shut-ins as well as a daily Mass that could usually be found on something like EWTN. So, in a sense this was already familiar territory. However, we breached some important new frontiers.
Parish communities were live streaming.
Parish members and staff were discovering that they really did not need expensive, sophisticated equipment. Most of the needed tools were already at hand.
And we could stream live and local to our own people, our own communities.
All of a sudden so many began to discover that, if they could not get to join the community for Mass for whatever reason, well, the community could join them in their very own living rooms. OK, maybe the streaming sites did not have much by way of communities due to the Stay Home, Stay Safe, but as we begin to reopen, familiar faces will once again populate those now empty buildings.
And if we continue the practice of regular, weekly streaming of parish Masses, our members who cannot physically join us, can still feel a part of us. No longer will they need to watch some strange faces from some unknown places, listening to unfamiliar voices.
Community can reach out beyond our walls and into the homes of our parish families.
Why should we stop this?
And that streaming thing - well, it goes for the Cathedral Masses as well.
How wonderful that our bishops, the true "fathers" our our faith families can be streamed into our homes. I know many folks who not only watched Mass from their home parishes but they also joined the Cathedral Mass.
Why loose that?
And when it comes to those bishops - here in Detroit every Wednesday evening one of the bishops would live stream praying the Rosary.
We talk about the importance of prayer and especially of family prayer. It is a constitutive element of the domestic Church. And here we have entire families of families, led by one of those chief shepherds, joined in prayer.
Why should that stop? Smaller praying communities can build and strengthen the larger faith community.
And I know that in a number of parishes, to manifest a sense of support and solidarity, pastors and members of pastoral staffs also provided regular messages of inspiration - again live-streamed and then available through social media like Facebook.
Another good idea - simple faith outreach.
And who can predict how extensive such methods of outreach might become?
Instead of returning to the way things were, we ought to hunger for and commit to the discoveries we have made, the tools we have found, the lessons we have learned.
And there is still more.
Just days ago well over 200, actually close to 300 priests were able to join the Archbishop for a Zoom Meeting.
No longer need distance or weather conditions be allowed to be barriers to getting together. Meetings can still have live participants but they can also broaden to include those who, for one reason or other, cannot actually be present.
We have learned to Zoom!
Let's keep on Zooming!
In recent days and months around here we have heard the cry and challenge to Unleash the Gospel.
Well, in these days of pandemic what if we accepted that God is giving us some valuable lessons and tools to enable and empower us so that we can effectively, in Twenty-First Century fashion, Unleash the Gospel.
If lessons have been set before us, we would be foolish not to learn.
If tools have been handed to us, it would be foolish not to use them.
No going back!
Church - time to look ahead!


(And, by the way, if you might want to print a copy of this to give to your own parish priests and parish pastoral leaders, go right ahead. It might give them some ideas for moving forward. Feel free to get the word out. My ideas are for you and for free!)

And Stay Home; Stay Safe!