Reaching those not 'connected'

By Tanya Connor 
The Catholic Free Press
What if you can’t use a computer to learn about or watch what your parish is doing during the coronavirus pandemic? There’s always telephone, television and mail.
Sacred Heart-St. Catherine of Sweden Parish in Worcester is to offer Stations of the Cross and Good Friday liturgy Friday, and Easter Masses this weekend, by telephone conference calls. 
St. Joseph Parish in Charlton is planning to share a Gospel reading and Easter message via radio in the church parking lot.
St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester and Annunciation Parish in Gardner put greetings in the mail. And the diocesan liturgies are available on cable television.
Sacred Heart-St. Catherine of Sweden has been sharing the Stations of the Cross by telephone during Lent, and, for the past two weeks, the Sunday Mass as well. 
The parish’s administrator, Father Eric K. Asante, said he arranged the conference calls because some parishioners don’t have computers or don’t know how to use Facebook, where the Sunday Mass is live and posted for later viewing. Parishioner Sandra Kucharski organized the praying of the rosary on the conference call before the Sunday Mass.
This weekend’s schedule is as follows: today, Stations at 3 p.m. and Good Friday liturgy at 6 p.m.; tomorrow, Easter Vigil Mass at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, rosary at 11:15 a.m. and Easter Mass at noon. All are to be on the conference call and Facebook except the rosary, which is just on conference call.
To join in any conference call, dial 978-990-5000 and type in the access code 506497. You will be told to enter # (the pound or number sign). 
“Everybody’s welcome here; spread the word,” Father Asante said last Friday before starting the Stations of the Cross. “I want everybody to participate – that’s the beauty of what we are doing.” 
They used St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Stations. At times multiple voices caused some confusion. 
At the end, Father Asante led prayers for health care workers taking care of coronavirus victims, the intentions of the nation and especially people in Massachusetts, and for the faithful departed, especially those who died from the virus.
Father Robert A. Grattaroti, St. Joseph’s pastor, plans to be outside the church this weekend to deliver an Easter message.
Anyone interested in hearing it and a Gospel reading should be in the church parking lot (10 H Putnam Road Ext.) at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow, or 10 a.m. Sunday. They should stay in their vehicle and tune their radio to 89.5 FM.
Afterwards they can drive up to the windows at the church entrance for a blessing.
The cathedral is blessing its parishioners with an Easter remembrance.
Msgr. James P. Moroney, cathedral rector, said they were mailing parishioners a picture of the cross they traditionally venerate and a bottle of holy water with a message from him and Father Diego Buritica, associate pastor.
Father Stephen E. Lundrigan, Annunciation’s pastor, said they have a postcard being mailed to each of the 1,600 households in their parish.
“We miss you,” the postcard says on one side, and gives the parish name, logo and telephone number.
On the other side it says that “even this virus can not keep us from proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s salvation and serving his people.”
The postcard says that, through daily Mass and prayer “we continue to worship the Lord and present the needs of our community before the God who unites us. … We look forward to the time when we will be able to gather together to share the Eucharist as a community.”
The postcard asks parishioners to stay informed and connected by listening to the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass live on radio station WGAW 1340 AM or by viewing recorded Masses online.
Bishop McManus is celebrating Holy Week liturgies at St. Paul Cathedral. They are accessible on  Spectrum/Charter cable Ch. 193, and on computer at www.worcesterdiocese.org. 
The schedule is: today, Good Friday liturgy at 3 p.m. in English and 4 p.m. in Spanish; tomorrow, bilingual Easter Vigil Mass at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Easter Mass at 10 a.m. in English and 11 a.m. in Spanish. Re-broadcasting of the Easter Sunday Masses on Ch. 193 is at 6 p.m. in English and 7 p.m. in Spanish.