A volunteer hands over bags of food and drinks to an elderly woman in Tbilisi, Georgia, March 18, 2020. (CNS photo/Irakli Gedenidze, Reuters)
Father William Kunisch, pastor of Resurrection of the Lord Parish in Waipio and vicar for Central Oahu, in a March 19 email to the clergy of his vicariate, shared a few things central Oahu parishes are doing to continue to minister to their people.
Here are some of the actions he reported.
Drive-through Confessions: Father Ernesto Juarez, administrator of St. Michael Parish in Waialua, started this a couple of weeks ago. On March 18, he heard 10 confessions. People drive up and remain in their cars for safe social distancing.
Drive-thru food pantry: Rani Laurel, office manager at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Wahiawa, reported that the parish planned to continue distribution from the food pantry by having food in bags or boxes ready for pick-up. Food ministry will become more important than ever due to the economic fallout of the pandemic.
Food delivery to the elderly and homebound: EPIC young adult ministry has partnered with the Lanakila Senior Center to help deliver food and supplies to the elderly. They are establishing donation drop-off sites on the island.
Livestreaming Masses, devotions, messages: St. Michael is already doing this. Resurrection of the Lord is live-streaming a Sunday Mass from the Dominican Center convent chapel. St. John Apostle and Evangelist in Mililani is planning to livestream Masses too. This is done easily on Facebook. Bishop Larry Silva’s Sunday Mass is livestreaming a 9 a.m. Sunday Mass from the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Many parish websites also have links to streamed Masses outside of Hawaii, such as those on EWTN.
Small groups by Zoom: EPIC young adult ministry is continuing their small group sessions online using Zoom, an online meeting application.
Homebound welfare checks: Instead of Communion visits, some homebound ministries have started to check up on their homebound and elderly friends by phone, some using FaceTime.
Websites: One easy way to serve our parishioners, Father Kunisch said, is to have links on the parish website to the State Department of Health for information and testing sites, resources for prayer and reflection, and quick links to your online giving platform.
Help button: The Resurrection Parish website added a “Get Help. Give Help.” button with links to a list of ways parishioners are reaching out during the pandemic, including the Women’s Group which is sewing face masks and the new Friday Fasts as a way to encourage charity and Prayer Partners.
How to livestream your Mass
The communications office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is offering help to parishes who want to livestream their Masses (or any other service). It’s possible with only a mobile phone, a tripod and a lapel microphone. Here are the links: usccb.org/about/communications/upload/how-to-livestream-mass.pdf and usccb.org/about/communications/upload/Faith-on-Facebook-Toolkit.pdf.
Closed
In light of the governor’s shelter in place order, the diocesan Tribunal office is closed to the public. Please do not phone or visit. The judicial vicar Father Mark Gantley and moderator of the Tribunal Mary Duddy will respond to mail and emails. The office will be processing dispensations and nullity petitions as usual.
Postponed
Bishop Larry Silva has postponed the May 2 Mass celebrating the jubilees of Hawaii clergy and religious until later this year.
