Live Stream Opportunities

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed and staying safe and healthy. I also hope your holiday weekend was relaxing. I know many people were happy to spend some time with family, even if they had to keep their distance. I was very happy to get a good night’s rest on Monday night. I hope I don’t jinx myself, but I think they may have finally run out of fireworks. We have had at least three neighbors that have been shooting fireworks almost every night, sometimes at 3:00-4:00 in the morning. Apparently this has been going on across the nation and there are all kinds of crazy theories. As for me, I just hope it’s over.

I want to truly thank our three seminarians. The virus certainly changed their plans for the summer, but they dove in and were happy to help with whatever we needed. We were actually able to do a lot of cleaning projects around the rectory and in the parish center. They were truly brave souls to spend several days cleaning out the attic. They also did the basement shop and the sun room, as well as, the front porch and parlor. I think some of the windows they cleaned had not been touched in quite a while. There is still more to be done, but what they were able to accomplish was amazing. They also helped out a lot with the center, which was great since Michelle had asked some of her usual helpers to stay home for their own safety. They helped a lot with our liturgies and even helped count the collection for a few weeks. So we will certainly miss them. Please keep them, and our other seminarians, in your prayers.

With their departure, and with a desire to start organizing some other projects, we are looking for those who are willing and able to do so. First, let me say that I don’t want anyone to feel pressured. If you don’t yet feel safe, then by all means wait until you do so. Of course, one of our needs is with the liturgy, especially, lectors and Eucharistic Ministers. We also need help with the live-streaming of the 9:00 am mass (8:00 am on Saturday). If you are familiar with posting to Facebook then the latter is much easier than it might look. For the weekdays I am going to create a sign up sheet in the back of church for lectors & Eucharistic ministers. The Eucharistic Ministers need to be a Eucharistic Minister, and may also need some explanations of the new procedure, so please talk with one of the priests before signing up for the first time. One of the other areas, in which the seminarians were a big help, was with the cleaning and sanitizing of the church after each mass. For the most part we have had great participation by parishioners and visitors alike. I would like to encourage that so we can continue to clean the church.

Finally, perhaps a positive thing to come out of our need to stop public masses and be sequestered, was that we all gained experience with streaming liturgies and classes and other such events. Fr. Chung got very creative with some of the things he posted online that helped us stay connected as a community. I received a lot of very positive feedback about the amount and the quality of what we posted online. Family, friends and former parishioners across the country have been able to tune in to St. Alphonsus.

While I have heard that some parishes intend on stopping this, our intention is quite the opposite. We want to continue to expand it, as well as, continue to improve the quality. To do this we plan on investing in permanent equipment. We have gotten a couple quotes and now that most of the items are back in stock we want to move forward. If you have enjoyed our liturgies and other offerings and would like to help us we are looking for donations. We are going to be doing this in stages. The initial set up will cost between $4,000-$5,000 for equipment and installation, and then at some time in the future we will add another $3,000-$4,000 for additional cameras.

For some people this may seem like a lot, especially when we have been doing it with our iPhones so far. I firmly believe that this is the way of the future and now is the time to invest in doing it the right way and make sure that both the video and the sound are of high quality. Even after a cure is found, this will continue to help our sick and our shut-ins, not to mention those who are spending the weekend at their cabin or in the UP. It is also a great tool for evangelization. Many young people go to the internet as their first way to evaluate a parish. Another benefit of this will be our ability to record weddings, and you all know how many of those we do, as well as First Communions and Confirmations. I also predict more requests to stream funerals so family members that are unable to travel can still participate at the home-going of their loved ones. I am sure there will be things we have not even thought of.

For those who would like to contribute, please write in the memo and/or on the outside of the envelope, “ONLINE” or “STREAMING.” May God bless you as you help to spread the Good News and the mercy of God to all the Nations.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick