John Fielding, seated, and son Ryan Fielding make final adjustments before livestreaming the noon Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace May 31. Behind them, a plastic sheet blocks off renovations to the cathedral being done during the coronavirus shutdown. (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
A father-son team brings you, live on the internet, Masses from the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
If you’ve watched any of the streaming Masses at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady Peace in Honolulu from Holy Week on, you’re watching the handiwork of John Fielding.
Fielding, who works full-time as the risk management director for Altres Staffing and Simplicity HR, says he’s long had a “passion for media.” He runs Hawaii Catholic TV and other media efforts as a side hobby.
So when COVID-19 abruptly shut down public Masses in mid-March, Fielding was able to help the cathedral basilica set up both a livestream feed on hictv.com and a Facebook Live connection.
He says that for the close to 20 livestream Masses that have taken place in the last eight weeks, there have been nearly 84,000 views and 25,000 unique visitors. Outside of Hawaii and the U.S., people have streamed the cathedral basilica’s Masses from countries including Canada, China, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and the U.K.
Fielding started with a simple one-camera shot in March and has slowly improved his system. He first had to stream Mass via his phone or his portable wifi hotspot because the church wasn’t internet-ready for the first few weeks. It now has wifi. He’s dealt with issues like the livestream stalling and also the older sound system picking up the radio station next door. He’s also working to install a permanent three-camera HDMI set-up.
Ryan Fielding is John’s only other “cameraman” and operates the camera that pans and zooms during Mass. Cathedral staffer Joe Ramos responds to Facebook comments and messages live on that platform. John Fielding gets back to all Hawaii Catholic TV messages.
He’s taken viewer requests to add slides with the songs and Mass order so people can better follow along. He’s also gotten many comments from people thrilled to be able to watch Mass online.
Fielding also streams the cathedral basilica Masses to a small Zoom group. Once Mass is done, they unmute themselves and stay on the call to chat for a bit, almost like a virtual coffee hour.
Fielding, who is a cathedral basilica parishioner, has helped other Honolulu parishes like Sacred Heart and Holy Family set up their streaming systems, and he does it for free. He can recommend a fairly cheap camera, microphone, and other equipment and set-up options to churches looking for advice.
Streaming is still just as important, he says, as in-person Masses resume since those that don’t feel comfortable attending yet, are homebound or have health risks still want to join in Mass virtually.
“I just want our churches to get this out to the community,” Fielding said. “With or without COVID we are going to have a lot of people who are going to stay at home. So every church should consider doing this.”
He recommends every parish make sure to include a link to their online giving or ways to donate when they stream Mass since churches have been hurting with a lack of regular offertory collections.
You can contact John Fielding for media services at 808-306-6878.
