A screen capture of the Sept. 10 livestreamed Mass at St. Joseph Church in Waipahu.
That is the long-term pandemic question. For some parishes, the virtual Mass is here to stay. Not so for others
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
When the coronavirus pandemic shut down churches in Hawaii in March 2020, many parishes quickly set up livestream services so that Mass could be watched live online. Very few Hawaii parishes had used such technology before, but churches wanted their congregation to get as much Mass as they could, even though in normal times virtual attendance does not substitute for physical presence.
After churches were allowed to reopen under social distancing restrictions, Bishop Larry Silva continued the dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass through Easter 2021.
Not all parishes ended up livestreaming during church closures and the ongoing dispensation from Mass attendance for one reason or another, some due to the cost and logistics. St. Anthony Parish in Kailua had the gear for it but chose only to stream certain services, such as funerals, upon request.
Other parishes went all out. With the cost and accessibility of livestreaming being much lower than it used to thanks to smartphones, social media platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube Live, and widely available broadband internet, it wasn’t too difficult to start.
Varied approaches
Early in the pandemic, John Fielding, a Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace parishioner who also manages its livestream services, advised other local churches on how to get going with digitally streaming liturgies.
He said the cathedral and a few other churches now have multiple camera set-ups, though many still use just one camera. About half use a permanent camera mounted in the church and half set up for each livestream Mass.
“Most churches have maintained the livestream as an added alternative,” Fielding said. “The cathedral provides daily livestreaming.”
At Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Wahiawa, Lisa Gomes has run the parish livestream since Palm Sunday 2020.
It was temporary in the beginning — we used a laptop and Zoom to stream on our Facebook and website,” Gomes said. “Eventually we got an external camera to use with the laptop and then eventually invested in and mounted two cameras, a laptop, and upgraded our internet.”
Gomes, who is also the Diocese of Honolulu’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry director, said she thinks the livestreaming will go on indefinitely.
Youth step up
Our Lady of Sorrows in Wahiawa uses title cards and puts prayers up on the livestreams of its Masses.
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Honokaa on the Big Island started livestreaming weekend Masses in April 2020 under the guidance of young adult Catholic, Mark Rebellon. The 5:30 p.m. Saturday Mass and 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Sunday Masses are streamed.
“The youth of this parish have the full responsibility of livestreaming our Masses since I get busy with my home parish [Annunciation in Waimea],” Rebellon said.
At Annunciation Parish and its Ascension Mission in Puako, Rebellon started livestreaming after his pastor, Father Anthony Pangan, asked him to set it up. While all Masses were livestreamed the first weekend, the parish soon switched to alternating between the two churches. Waimea livestreaming ended in June but the mission church still has livestreaming on Sundays at 10 a.m.
On Oahu’s leeward coast at St. Rita Parish in Nanakuli and Sacred Heart Parish in Waianae, Silia Lefu’a said livestreaming has been consistent. The 10 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Rita and usually the 5 p.m. Saturday and 9:30 a.m. Sunday Masses at Sacred Heart are streamed. Occasionally the 6 p.m. Sunday Mass is as well.
One parish that started livestreaming early on was Sacred Hearts Parish in the Punahou area of Honolulu. At first, the pastor, Father EJ Resinto, had a cellphone on a tripod set-up during the early lockdown with just himself at the altar. Eventually, the parish expanded to a more formal camera set-up. But after the lifting of the dispensation from attending Mass, Sacred Hearts decided to end livestreaming as of Palm Sunday.
Father Resinto explained that the parish viewing numbers had tapered off once in-person services resumed.
Only temporary
“After my staff and I did some evaluating, we noticed that most of our parishioners have returned to church and those who are homebound were already watching Masses on EWTN,” the priest said. “So, my pastoral decision was that livestreamed Mass was never to be permanent, but only temporary during the lockdown.”
“I encouraged parishioners to return safely and those who have health issues or are immunocompromised to stay home with my pastoral dispensation,” Father Resinto added. “We have also reached out to these parishioners to do visits and bring them Communion regularly.”
St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani continues to livestream Sunday Mass, something it has done since March 2020.
“Even though we can attend Mass in-person now, we still livestream for those who want to limit contact due to healthcare concerns,” said parishioner Melissa Padilla.
One of the diocese’s biggest parishes, St. Joseph in Waipahu, continues to get about 300 viewers of its daily livestreamed Masses, which began on the first day of lockdown on Oahu in March 2020.
Justin Agustin, who is one of the livestream controllers, says the most online views it received were during Holy Week 2020, with nearly 1,500 participants logged in on Palm Sunday.
St. Joseph has streamed school Masses, Holy Hour for Vocations, solemnities and feast days “to give those that cannot join us physically a chance to celebrate with us virtually.”
Reinstated after a day
“We wanted to end our livestream Masses last year in May — we stopped it for one day — then the calls and emails came flooding in about what happened,” Agustin said. “Because of the outpouring from the community, we reinstated the livestream the next day.”
The parish streams the Sunday 10 a.m. Mass, weekday Mass at 6:30 a.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. Mass.
“People call, letters are sent and emails come in about how appreciative they are that we are able to provide the Mass virtually, providing folks with much-needed prayer that they can participate in wherever they are,” Agustin said.
“We will continue to live-stream and use this as a medium to evangelize, not only in our community, but to all over the world,” he added.
You can find a list of Hawaii parishes that livestream Masses at catholichawaii.org. The list may not be up-to-date.
