The church building after coronavirus: new understandings of social mission

Part iii of a survey series

Apr 3, 2020

Catholic parishes across the world are closed. Millions of Catholics take been unable to physically take part in the commemoration of the Mass for weeks, and may non exist able to again for months.

Just put, the coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally changing how we do and be church building.

What could these changes mean for us in the long-term? How will they affect us in the years to come up, well later the initial threat of the pandemic has passed?

Over the past week, NCR surveyed two dozen theologians, social directors, non-profit leaders, and pastors, asking them each to consider these questions. We're presenting the answers over three days.

Previously, we focused on questions of community and church governance. Today we plough to the church's social mission.

Beyond our own shores

Sean Callahan is president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the Cosmic community in the United States.

In January, I rode with Yayah Kamara from Kabala, in northern Sierra Leone, to the capitol, Freetown. Kamara is the operations director for Cosmic Relief Service programs in this area. He is an unassuming, quiet man, but if you watch him closely you know he is analyzing everything and is always set to respond.

In 2014, Kamara was a first responder when the Ebola outbreak wracked Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. He would exit his family unit each day, knowing that he was putting their lives at risk. He and his team put on their personal protective equipment and "collected" the sick and/or dead.

Instead of beingness attacked past locals, equally some responders were in other communities, Kamara'southward team was welcomed into their homes. They advised family members of the proper Ebola protocols; they treated Ebola victims with nobility and respect; and they performed condom and dignified burials to allow families to say goodbye without risking infection.

I wanted to spend time with Kamara because I saw him as someone who exemplified the church's social mission by putting his community, his country and even me (far away from Sierra Leone in the United states) over himself and his family.

The church's social mission becomes more evident and more dramatic during times of crisis. We run into those who continue to provide food, healthcare and homes; and those who call for justice; and those who call for peace, every bit the prophets of our time.

These crises unite the states as we go a glimpse of some of the challenges and uncertainties millions of people confront every twenty-four hours. We are chosen to act in solidarity. The common practiced requires united states of america to constrain our desires and our freedoms when they poignantly and straight hurt others.

The approval of COVID-19 may exist that it allows u.s. to see beyond our own wants and needs to those of others less fortunate. It may permit us to foster a "one health" approach and heal our Mother Earth, and it may allow us to look at our sisters and brothers from other countries and cultures as a source of inspiration and leadership. It is time nosotros open ourselves to a world beyond our own shores and egos.

New forms of pastoral care

Richard Coll is executive manager of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the U.S. Conference of Cosmic Bishops.

The Holy Male parent emphasized in his apostolic exhortationQuerida Amazonia ("Beloved Amazon") that our environment, our culture, our economic system of exclusion and our survival as humans and that of many species are all interrelated. Nosotros only need to look to this current wellness crisis and our response to encounter that the standard path for dialogue and advocacy has at present inverse.

From altitude learning and business organization conducted over web-based video meetings and teleconferencing, to our socializing behavior, our response may provide new opportunities to reverberate this interconnectedness and to advocate for creative responses.

The recent Synod of Bishops highlighted the demand for new missionaries to bring the Gospel to the far corners of the Amazon, but one demand not travel far to discover in our own country vast areas of territory not fairly served past pastoral personnel or resource.

State of the vatican city'due south use of technology to bring the pontiff's March 27 Urbi et Orbi blessing directly into the homes of the faithful is the nigh recent guide in applying foresight using the techniques of telecommunication to keep to shine the light of Christ in times of crisis when people are prone to despair.

Technology should enable us to reach out and advocate, both lovingly and finer, on behalf of big portions of our true-blue — Pope Francis' beloved peripheries — that previously have been ignored and underserved. Information technology may accept a new Marshall McLuhan to realize the best medium for these messages, merely we must begin boldly today to arts and crafts the new forms of discourse that must be made available in this new pastoral climate.

Value of ministry made clearer

Daughter of Charity Sr. Carol Keehan is the former CEO of the Cosmic Health Clan of the United States.

In the center of this dangerous and frightening pandemic, it is a skillful mental health exercise to think about life after information technology is nether command. In every aspect of our lives we have experienced massive changes, uncertainties and loss of control. What volition the "new normal" be?

The church's ministries have experienced radical changes and challenges: from schools that had to get to complete distance-learning instantly, to finding ways to get college students home from the ends of the globe, to our healthcare facilities that had to ramp up capacity to treat large numbers of patients with a disease we don't understand, to protecting caregivers from being infected before we understood how the illness is transmitted, to coping with huge shortages of supplies and equipment to protect both patients and caregivers. Especially challenged ministries were our nursing homes.

What will be our "new normal" state? I remember the value of church ministries will be much clearer. The heroes in them will be remembered and celebrated. The importance of a better national arrangement for dealing with these emergencies, run by experts in their field and well-funded, will be demanded by the public. The bear on of the failures in this pandemic and how they crippled local responders volition drive this initiative.

It will exist imperative that the massive financial impact this has had on these ministries as they struggled to continue upward their service and protect students, patients and staff is recognized in the priorities of hereafter congressional stimulus bills. These ministries are a treasure in their communities and deserve support to sustain and rebuild them as much as public corporations.

I remember you will also see these ministries being a very informed and convincing voice in the public square on the impact of the pandemic on those they serve and how that should be prioritized in stimulus bills. This advocacy will be another important way the church serves.

Wellness for all, not 'the many'

Jesuit Fr. James Keenan is the vice provost for global engagement at Boston College, a theologian and the founder of Cosmic Theological Ideals in the Earth Church.

At the end of Albert Camus'The Plague, the remarkable Dr. Rieux realizes that equally the plague recedes, the survivors volition honor their dead and return to normal life as if nothing happened, fifty-fifty though the virus could come dorsum anytime.

Today we confront the fragility of life and then immediately that at times, like the virus itself, nosotros are left breathless.

And we face up the mortifying frustration of beingness unprotected: lacking the tests, masks and ventilators; these life-savers were not in our reach.

When information technology recedes, what can the church practice to assistance us to learn from these experiences?

Consider this. Many of united states are experiencing a pandemic for the first time, however others have known the ravages of malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and babe mortality, AIDS, Ebola — the lists goes on. Likewise, they know that treatments are there, merely non within reach.

We take kept those illnesses from our doorsteps for years, but not from theirs. Unaffected, we could live with news of their struggles.

Can we now? Now that we know the terror of a pandemic and the tangible alienation of lacking bachelor resources, tin can we return to our old ways of living with news of their struggles?\

Could our churches brand us more mindful of health for all? In Latin, health is salus, the same root as salvation. Could the bishops make u.s. realize that when it comes to health or conservancy, it's not for the "many," simply for all?

A more than resilient world

Eric LeCompte is the executive director of Jubilee USA, an alliance of U.S. organizations and faith communities that advocates for off-white debt arbitration and debt relief.

Under a strict coronavirus quarantine and curfew beyond Puerto Rico, the three.5 million residents of the Caribbean area island go on to experience earthquakes and struggle to recover from 2017 hurricanes. A debt crunch had already shuttered schools and wellness services in the U.S. territory, where almost sixty% of kids live in poverty.

Increasing services for the poor and sick as the coronavirus spreads is Caritas Cosmic Charities Puerto Rico. Caritas' parish-based groups and their coordinator, Fr. Enrique "Kike" Camacho, and his team find people that need help. And then, Caritas parish-based groups beyond the island are deployed, risking their lives every twenty-four hours to bring food and medicine to those in demand in barrios, under bridges and in public squares.

As the global coronavirus takes lives and wreaks havoc on our economy, the church building and the true-blue are on the forepart lines. Offer up their lives to salve united states of america beyond our planet are Catholic sisters and nuns and the incredible health institutions they founded. Catholic Charities, Caritas and Cosmic Relief Services are expanding their services to the vulnerable at this moment. Diocesan soup kitchens and Catholic Worker Houses, while being more flexible in how they deliver nutrient, are quickening their pace to become the food to the people who need it well-nigh.

The Holy Male parent proclaims that lives, in this tragic moment, must not exist sacrificed for economic growth — that if we prioritize wealth for a few, we will witness a "viral genocide."

The sad truth virtually this crisis is that if the social teaching of the U.S. bishops' briefing and vatican city had been heeded by globe leaders, both our economic and healthcare systems would accept been meliorate prepared for the pandemic.

When asked what this plague ways for the social mission of our church, the response is that in times of crisis the social mission of our church becomes more vibrant, more vital and nigh true to the phone call of the Gospel.

As the Imf said March 28, we are in a recession and we risk a financial crunch graver than the Great Depression. It will be the social mission of the church that illuminates a path towards a more than resilient post-pandemic world.

An outward-facing church building

Bishop Robert McElroy leads the Diocese of San Diego, California.

The most powerful dictum of reflexive pastoral action in the life of the church says: "Why do nosotros do information technology this manner? Considering that's how we have always washed information technology."

But in these days of pandemic and social distancing, that dictum has been shattered, at least for a moment. Parishes, schools, dioceses and social service agencies are attempting to carry out their missions in a vastly transformed civilization in which we cannot wait for men and women of faith to come to us and our churches because it is impossible for anyone to come. Every unmarried pattern of pastoral service, sacramental life and the proclamation of the Gospel has to be rethought and reconfigured in a radical manner.

Equally a diocesan bishop, I have been amazed by the energy, creativity, optimism and resilience that take emerged in the collaborative activeness of priests, lay leadership, pastoral staffs, schoolhouse communities and religious women and men. Faced with the searing deprivation of straight sacramental run across and customs necessitated by the demands of public wellness, the Cosmic people are imagining dramatically new pathways of participation in the almost of import elements of the life of the church.

The majority of pastors are inviting the laity to be architects of this reimagined pastoral life, considering they recognize that and so many instruments of effective evangelization and sacramentality in this COVID-19 era involve modes of communication in which a parish or school's lay leadership has both the technical expertise and the understanding of what will truly do good the customs of the faithful.

At the heart of this transformation, a new momentum is building for a church that is actively outward facing rather than rooted in the sacristy. Pope Francis' vision of energized missionary discipleship is truly taking root.

Yet the most important question we face is this: When that blithesome day returns on which we can fully participate in the sacramental and customs life of the church building, will we acquit with united states from this moment only the mechanics of new pathways of communication and ministry, or also the deeper mandate that we as a church must become piercingly outward facing and missionary?

Prioritizing people in demand

Joan Rosenhauer is executive director of Jesuit Refugee Service U.s..

Around the globe, we lookout with admiration and gratitude those serving people in demand of wellness care and contributing to the common practiced through essential services. At Jesuit Refugee Services United states, where most staff can telework, chaplains are providing pastoral care for people detained by the U.S. government, going into centers when others tin't so detainees have support.

After the coronavirus pandemic, the church may experience changes in three areas: Catholic priorities, applied science and advancement.

This lesson about who matters — those in need — and whom we admire — those who serve — tin have lasting impacts on the church's social mission. I am hopeful, going frontward, the church'south ministries serving those in need will get more valued and widespread in the life of the church.

The pandemic is besides causing charitable organizations to implement new technologies. Along with emergency intendance, mental health services are central to current JRS programs. Families forced to flee their homes endure terrible trauma. With the pandemic, our staff employ cell phones and other technology to ensure that mental health back up continues safely. In the futurity, our ability to use technology to connect refugees to digital services and the digital economy will overcome the limitations of the places they are forced to settle.

Many Catholic charities abet for the vulnerable. The pandemic has demonstrated the essential role government plays for people in need. This recognition and new uses of engineering science mean JRS U.s. has more than people participating in our upcoming virtual Advancement 24-hour interval than have always come to Washington.

All of these experiences can aid the church prioritize and more finer serve and advocate for vulnerable people in the future.

Mission, innovation, smart choices

Jesuit Fr. Tom Smolich is the international director for Jesuit Refugee Service.

The COVID-19 pandemic volition non bring the 70-plus one thousand thousand forcibly displaced people in our world dwelling. COVID-nineteen cannot derail the church's mission of dignity and full man life for our refugee sisters and brothers. Yet the mail-COVID church needs a depth and latitude to engage the five to 10 years of change arriving now. This rapid development presents iii challenges:

Mission renewed: Like Lazarus leaving the tomb, life mail service-COVID will be different. Whether global solidarity or self-interest will be dominant is non certain; how can our church assure the result? JRS's strategic priorities include reconciliation, connecting and reconnecting refugees and host communities through faith values and shared projects. Rebuilding the earth later on social isolation requires solidarity and reconciliation.

Innovation required: COVID-xix recovery will require innovation, new means inspired by the Gospel to serve others. In addition to technology, at that place is the man side of innovation: improved health standards in projects, changes in educational curricula, deeper empowerment of women and girls for the post-COVID world. Innovation builds on community and technology, and nosotros must go along both in the picture.

Smart choices to brand: Work with vulnerable migrants volition have to change, and financial resources will recover slowly; this volition be hard. How can we be of greatest service? Can all once-thriving projects survive? We have to discover a path betwixt nostalgia and hyper-efficiency; nosotros will need a spirit of discernment for the difficult choices to come.

Into the post-COVID world, Isaiah invites the states: "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you non perceive it?" (43:xix).

A reminder to 'see' those in demand

Fr. Larry Snyder is the vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the president of Catholic Charities U.s. from 2004 until 2015.

I believe the church building'south social ministry is intricately entwined with her sacramentality. Signs and symbols stand for deeper realities that define our human relationship to God and who we are called to exist as faithful disciples. When persons of organized religion perform acts of mercy, it is a sign, an expression of their organized religion.

In his 2005 encyclical Deus caritas est ("God is love"), Pope Benedict XVI tells u.s. that the 3 duties of the church are to preach the Gospel, to celebrate the sacraments and to live lives of service through acts of charity. None of these is negotiable.

So, at a fourth dimension of global pandemic when people are required to maintain social distance, how exercise nosotros concretize those three demands? While the inability to get together as a customs of faith is distressing, we take virtual options that at least permit united states of america to make space in our day for prayer and spiritual connection.

But how do nosotros practice social ministry building when many of us are sheltering in place? At that place are those who volition continue to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless because it is their profession. Some will continue to volunteer as the state of affairs allows. Nosotros tin support them through prayer, but also through almsgiving upon which their services depend. And nosotros tin stand in solidarity with the poor past holding them in our hearts.

But the true challenge will come up afterward the coronavirus threat is ended. It will not be easy to leave the message of social isolation behind. Unfortunately, we may have go accustomed to seeing the "other" every bit a threat.

I recall we volition encompass our spiritual homes, our parishes, stronger than we did before. But I fear nosotros might non be so quick to volunteer or acquaintance with the poor, the disadvantaged, the marginalized. Pope Francis tells us of the importance of "seeing" the needy; Female parent Teresa reminds u.s. that in the faces of the poor we meet the face up of Christ.

Those with the responsibility of preaching volition need to remind u.s.a. all of that. In that location is no moratorium on our Gospel responsibilities.

[Heidi Schlumpf is NCR's national correspondent; Michael Sean Winters is a longtime NCR columnist; Joshua J. McElwee is NCR's Vatican correspondent.]

A version of this story appeared in the May 15-28, 2020 print issue under the headline: New understandings of social mission .

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