Creative evangelizing in a time of social distancing

For Dominican Father David Caron, vicar of evangelization for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the forced change in routine sparked a personal quest: How could parishes reach out to people they can’t see except through a computer screen or an email?
    

Father Caron hopes the resources he has stitched together by mining his doctoral skills as a liturgist will have a life far beyond the time of sequester.
    

“I’ve spent a lot of time just basically listening,” Father Caron said. “I’m talking to priests and pastors and some of my colleagues in other dioceses. It’s been a great, collaborative thing, and people right now are being really creative in trying to reach out and serve the needs of God’s people.”
 

Listening bears fruit
    

In the last month, Father Caron has compiled pastoral strategies on a variety of topics:
 

How can a parish maintain contact with individuals who may have been lost in the shuffle due to the cancellation of liturgies during the Sacred Triduum – the elect and candidates who were supposed to enter the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday? Their welcome to the church has been delayed by weeks or months, and Father Caron is concerned some may feel forgotten and not take that final step.
 

How can a parish help families cope with the death of a loved one? Many funerals have had to be postponed because of the prohibition on large gatherings in church, and Father Caron has compiled an unofficial ritual that could be used now by family members connecting on Zoom video.
 

How can a parish help individuals feeling lost and isolated during the quarantine keep in touch with their faith? Father Caron has written “The 4 ‘Ps’ of Spiritually Thriving During the COVID-19 Pandemic”: planning, praying, maintaining connections with people and playing.
    

“You can’t stay in your pajamas all day,” he said, laughing. “You need a plan as a family and as an individual.”
 

Slipping through the cracks
    

Keeping the “elect” and “candidates” engaged with parishes during this limbo time is a vital concern to both Father Caron and Deacon Michael Whitehouse, associate director of the archdiocesan Office of Religious Education.
    

“I was on a Zoom conference call the other day where participants were speaking about some of the elect and candidates leaving their parishes,” Father Caron said. “Parishes don’t know what to do with them because RCIA is over and they cannot do the period of ‘mystagogy’ until after the sacraments are celebrated. In some places, nothing is being done. The elect and the candidates – and their godparents and sponsors – are in a holding pattern. Some parishes have stopped praying for them in the Sunday and daily intercessions.”
    

Father Caron said a related issue is that many of those people have had to postpone weddings. “This is a time of spiritual stress,” he said. “These are the forgotten people.”
 

Personal contact is vital
    

One of the simplest ways to keep the elect and candidates connected with the parish is for their sponsors and godparents to encourage them to continue meditating on the Scriptures in their homes, the “domestic church.” The future Catholics could be encouraged to watch the livestreamed Mass each week, and the parish could stay in touch with them online through Zoom.
    

“Once the quarantine is lifted, godparents and sponsors should be sure the elect and candidates are fully participating in the life of the parish as they approach their initiation,” Father Caron said.
    

Parishes also should continue to pray for them at Mass, he said.
    

As for pastoral care for the families of the deceased, Father Caron said one of the major challenges is that “grief becomes increasingly complicated and painful when the person dying dies alone from COVID-19.”
    

mong the many “painful” and “crucial” questions are what happens when a loved one is dying and the family is unable to be present through the dying process or to properly say goodbye. In many cases, the family is prevented from gathering around their loved one “to be present, tell stories, share memories and prepare for the separation to come.”
    

“What happens when familiar funeral rituals cannot be observed at the time of death?’ Father Caron said.
 

Technology draws in family 
    

One option is for the family to use an unofficial ritual, which he calls a “Zoom Remembrance,” that can be a source of “pastoral care and accompaniment for families and friends wishing to remember” the deceased during the quarantine period – until the restrictions on funeral Masses are lifted.
    

“The funeral homes are really trying to encourage people to bury their loved ones now and have a memorial service later,” Father Caron said. “But at the same time, ritual helps people grieve, and what happens when the rituals we’ve been used to for our grief are taken away? Sometimes an unofficial ritual will speak louder to people than an official one. 
    

“This is just another way to reach out to people. Some of the people who will be participating will be non-churchgoing people. This is not only doing what we can to be of service to God’s people, but it is also good evangelization.”
    

As for parishes maintaining contact with their parishioners, Father Caron said it doesn’t have to be things with lot of bells, whistles and high-bandwidth computer setups for livestreaming Masses.
 

Old school: Pick up the phone
    

“The thing that has had the greatest impact is old school – it’s about the pastor, the parochial vicar, the deacons, pastoral council members picking up the phone and calling five people a day,” Father Caron said. “They should basically ask two things: How are you doing? And, what can we be praying for you? If that opens a conversation, then before you hang up, you can get their latest email address, and you’ve helped with your data collection.
    

“But listening to the priests who have done this, it’s just unbelievably powerful. Some people are actually asking how Father is doing. It’s pastoral care in both directions.”
    

Father Caron also has given suggestions to pastors about how to ask their parishioners –  watching the Mass from their homes – to keep up with their parish contributions.
    

“A lot of them said to me, ‘We don’t know what to say. We don’t want to say the wrong thing,’” Father Caron said. “The presumption is this cannot be your first and only contact with the parishioner. That’s why it’s important to call, because if the first thing you’re asking for is money, that’s not going to work.”

Father Caron’s extensive evangelization documents are available in their entirety by clicking the links below.

The 4 “P”s of Spiritually Thriving During the Covid-19 Pandemic…. Plus One
Resources to Engage the Elect and Candidates During Covid-19
Pastoral Care for the Families of the Deceased During Covid-19: A Zoom Remembrance Service
Some Best Pastoral Practices in a Time of Covid-19 Coronavirus​​​​​​​