Month: March 2020

Pittsburgh, Pa., Mar 17, 2020 / 03:55 pm (CNA).- Fr. Nick Vaskov wanted to do something. He wanted to invoke God’s protection against the pandemic of the coronavirus, and call for the protection of the saints. He wanted to give witness to faith. So he decided to have a procession.

The procession was to take place after a Mass in Pittsburgh, where Vaskov is diocesan director of shrines. Both procession and Mass would call for divine protection from plagues, epidemics, and contagious diseases. And there would be a lot of relics.

The priest scheduled everything for March 22. And then on March 16, the diocese suspended public Masses, in response to the guidance of public health officials. And gatherings of more than just a few people were discouraged.

So Fr. Vaskov’s plans had to change.

The Mass will still take place on March 22nd, but now it will be livestreamed, and Catholics encouraged to watch online.

The procession will still take place too. Catholics are invited to stand on the sidewalk along the procession route, keeping a safe distance from each other. Pittsburgh priests will carry the Blessed Sacrament, along with relics from the True Cross, St. Rocco, and St. Rosalia, through a Pittsburgh neighborhood. They’ll pray, and invite onlookers to do the same.

“The celebration of Holy Mass, obviously it’s a participation in the liturgy of heaven. So whether we are present or not, as the body of Christ, it has a powerful effect for the intentions that we bring there – that we want to be transformed and made new and healed, certainly in a time of a health crisis for people’s health and protection,” Vaskov told CNA.

“[The] procession … [is] bringing God into the world and bringing people hope and faith and trust. We have a great opportunity to do that,” he told CNA.

Vaskov said the idea for the Mass and procession started with the large collection of relics at St. Anthony’s Chapel in Pittsburgh.  Among the collection are relics from intercessors against contagious diseases, like Saints Rocco and Rosalia. Those saints will be important intercessors during the time of the coronavirus pandemic, the priest said.

“We have that opportunity here since we have the relics of many saints that are invoked in times of plague and epidemic … We just have a great opportunity on our hands to be able to do something, show people that we do trust in God in moments like this to heal and to protect,” he told CNA.

The coronavirus, COVID-19, has infected nearly 190,000 people worldwide, and killed almost 8,000. Pennsylvania’s Department of Health reported that there have been 76 cases of the viruses in the state.

As many dioceses have closed their churches in response to the pandemic, Vaskov said there is need to be creative ways to involve people in prayer and spiritual practices, even if those are digital opportunities.

The priest told a story about Saint Charles Borromeo who, during a plague in 1500s Italy, would set up Mass on the street corners and people would pray through the windows of their apartments.

“That was a creative way to allow people to draw near to the Lord. We look now to digital ways to do that, and maybe other ways,” he said.

“Just because the church is closed doesn’t mean that we’re sitting here doing nothing, we’re going to do all the more.

“If nothing [else], this is going to be our own prayer for our people during this time. So praying with and for each other is going to be such an important part of this.”

Vaskov said the Mass for protection, streamed online, will not replace the reception of the Eucharist, but it will still be a powerful experience of prayer and unity. He told CNA he hopes the event will bring peace to people who feel stress or anxiety over the virus.

“It doesn’t replace for them what it means to go to Mass and to receive the Eucharist, but it certainly is a help, during challenging days, for so many people with anxiety and worry,” he said.

“[This event is a way] to have interactions with people digitally or opportunities for people to ask questions. People are worried and anxious and they look to the Church, they look to saints,” he said.

[…]

Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- The coronavirus pandemic has caused Catholic schools across the United States to close. With no clear timeline for when they might reopen, parents, students, teachers and schools are finding innovative w… […]

Denver, Colo., Mar 17, 2020 / 12:20 pm (CNA).- While dioceses across the country have canceled public Masses in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus, many parishes are remaining open for prayer, Eucharistic adoration, and confession, and continuing charitable work in the community.

But some parishes, especially those serving poor communities, have already begun feeling a financial pinch as they lose access to in-person parish collections.

For Father Joseph Lajoie, pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Denver, dwindling cash flow during the coronavirus crisis constitutes a “potentially crippling, if not mortal, blow” to the parish. 

“We are as antiquated as our registration system. It’s a three-ring binder,” Lajoie told CNA.

The Archdiocese of Denver suspended public Masses March 13.   

“So we’re looking at this past Sunday, and the next three at least, with no Mass, no collection at all,” Lajoie said.

Sacred Heart is one of the oldest parishes in the archdiocese, occupying a 140-year-old building. It is also one of the poorest, and its congregation is largely elderly and low-income.

The parish has no online giving portal, no electronic database of registered parishioners, and no way to communicate with the entire community electronically, except through social media.

Lajoie said that in recent days he’s been able to lead Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament from a balcony of the church for those in the community who are able to come outside.

Though many parishes keep reserves on hand— and Lajoie stressed that Sacred Heart does have some savings— the prospect of months without passing the basket has Lajoie worried about being able to pay his small staff, especially after the few weeks.

Nearly 100 dioceses in the United States have canceled public liturgies until further notice.

“I think a lot of the things in our country, and in our Church, are going to look very different when we’re allowed to have public Mass again,” Lajoie said.

Small and large parishes affected

The financial implications of canceling Mass are not just affecting small parishes, either.

Father Ronald Cattany, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver, said over the first weekend after Masses were suspended, in-person donations at the cathedral were down about 75% from a typical weekend. What did come came from those going to confession at the cathedral, or stopping to pray.

Online giving for that weekend totaled about $800, he said, but Cattany stressed that the cathedral basilica is not funded like most other parishes in Denver.

Despite its large size, Cattany said the parish has only about 600 registered parishioners, many of whom are elderly or low-income. A large portion of each Sunday’s congregation is made up of visitors, or what Cattany calls “Friends of the Cathedral” who attend on Sunday, but do not live in the area and are registered at other parishes.

For some other large parishes in the Denver area, the number of registered parishioners could range anywhere from 2,500 to over 6,000.

At the cathedral, “the populations here are very different,” Cattany said.

The cathedral has remained open for Eucharistic adoration. The confession schedule will— for now— remain the same, Father Cattany said.

The priest said the cathedral canceled its entire order of palms for Palm Sunday, and he fears that the palm supplier may go out of business. Still, he has been seeking to reassure parishioners that Jesus will be waiting for them in Eucharist when the pandemic ends.

“Despite the lack of liturgy, He’s still there, and he wants to see them,” Cattany said.

“The Blessed Mother’s helped us before, and she’s going to get us through this.”

The cathedral’s breakfast sandwich line for the homeless and the food pantry will continue to operate for the time being, he said. But the local chapter of St. Vincent DePaul, which typically provides about $5,000 worth of support per month to families in need, is “out of money.”

Catholics will likely help parishes first

Mario Enzler, program director for the Online Masters of Science in Ecclesial Administration and Management at the Catholic University of America, told CNA he recommends to priests that a parish keep on hand enough money for at least one month of operations.

He said parish priests— many of whom are former students in his program— have been calling him asking for advice during the coronavirus crisis.

“Yes, cash flow will suffer…but as I told several priests, you’ll be blown away by how your parishioners will become a force for unity,” Enzler said.

He said he also recently spoke to a diocesan vicar general, who is concerned about the diocesan annual appeal. That’s different, he said.

“Parishioners will, first and foremost, identify themselves as a member of a specific parish, rather than of a diocese,” Enzler said.

“So people will help the pastor before they think, I have to also help the bishop and the chancery and so on and so forth.”

Enzler said he has been telling priests who have been reaching out to him asking for advice on how to communicate with parishioners simply not to go into “panic mode.”

Talking to the priests who have contacted him, he said, “I did not sense a panic. There is a concern, they are aware of the financial repercussions, but at the same time with good crisis management skills, with good communication skills, with good use of digital platforms, they’re not going to be penalized.”

Reserves can help

Parishes in many dioceses have the option of depositing funds with the diocese as a kind of savings account. 

Father Ryan Hilderbrand, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Huntingburg, Indiana, told CNA that in the Diocese of Evansville, parishes sends excess money to a reserve fund managed by diocese which functions like a bank for parishes; he told CNA deposits can be withdrawn at any time for any reason.

Hilderbrand said this method of saving keeps the parish’s cash safe from market fluctuations.

“Generally speaking, if I ask the diocese for cash out of our savings, I will have a check in-hand within 48 hours,” he said.

Hilderbrand said his savings at diocese, along with endowments from parishioners has allowed the parish to build up a reserve fund. The priest estimates he could pay for parish staff and upkeep of the parish for six months, even if all income dried up. 

‘My parish has been blessed with great financial stability in the past. We have not had to use those proceeds [from the endowments] for many years,” he said.

“Thus, those proceeds have been building up over the years. If we need to tap into them, we can.”

Enzler said many priests throughout the country will have to make a similar calculation, and many people will likely have to share resources to keep parishes afloat during the coronavirus crisis.

He recommended that parishes especially well-prepared for a crisis ought to call up struggling parishes and offer to share resources. Dioceses, too, ought to do the same for fellow dioceses, he said.

“If a pastor knows that a neighboring parish is suffering, and he has an abundance of assets or goods, yes, he should share them with common sense. Because the goods of the parish belong to the people of God,” he said. 

Ultimately, Enzler said, if parishes don’t have access to an emergency fund, it’s simply time to turn the heat in the church down to 50— something Father Lajoie said he plans to do as soon as he can.

“If we have to all sacrifice, this is what we as Catholics are called to,” Enzler said.

“This is an amazing opportunity for all of us to come together and help one another and love one another, and to not leave our priests alone.”

[…]

Pittsburgh, Pa., Mar 17, 2020 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Allegheny County prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision to vacate the conviction of Fr. Hugh Lang, who is accused of having assaulted a boy in 2001.

On March 9 Allegheny County Commons Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani said he was granting Fr. Lang a new trial.

He said the priest had been denied a fair trial because the previous judge had allowed prosecutors to submit evidence that Fr. Lang had searched the internet for defense attorney shortly before the 2018 release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on allegations of clerical sex abuse of minors.

Prosecutors have said the internet search demonstrated “consciousness of guilt,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, while Mariani responded that the search could have been for other reasons, such as looking on behalf an accused colleague, or out of fear of being falsely accused.

He also said there is a right to search for and receive attorneys, which can’t be used to demonstrate guilt.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Stein “said the evidence wasn’t the same as evidence that a suspect actually hired or consulted with an attorney, which appellate court rulings have said can’t be used against a defendant.”

Mariani had sentenced Fr. Lang to 9-24 months in jail, but delayed implementation.

The priest’s accuser said that he was assaulted during an altar boy training at St. Therese of Lisieux parish in Munhall when he was 11. He said Fr. Lang molested and photographed him.

Fr. Lang, 89, has denied the abuse.

He was ordained in 1956, and retired in 2006.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh received the allegation against Fr. Lang in August 2018. His faculties are restricted.

Following Mariani’s decision to grant Fr. Lang a new trial, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh said that “the Church … will wait until all court proceedings are completed before moving forward in its canonical process.”

[…]