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September 4, 2020By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
Mass without Communion, confirmation without the bishop, “solo” music and other challenges are among struggles young people in the diocese have faced because of the coronavirus.
Samantha Holmes, 16, of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer, said she’s been going to church “every single Sunday … forever.” So it was upsetting when she couldn’t. She watched Mass on Facebook, but wasn’t able to receive Communion, she said. Now that Catholics have been allowed to return to church and receive the Eucharist, she’s done so.
Learning was complicated when everything was shut down. Her parish sent home faith formation material for students to complete and return. Her schoolwork for David Prouty High School in Spencer was online, which was really stressful at first, as “I learn way better hands on,” she said.
Although confirmation was in person, Bishop McManus didn’t administer the sacrament; their pastor, Father William Schipper, did. (The bishop had asked pastors to do that because many of the scheduled confirmation ceremonies were multi-parish and could not be held.)
“One of my teachers made a cardboard cutout of the bishop with a mask on,” Miss Holmes said. “It was on a little stick and I was holding it. It was nice, because I was … a little sad.” She was sad that her peers from other parishes, who were to be confirmed with them, could not be there, she said.
Miss Holmes was able to keep in touch with another set of peers. The diocesan youth ministry discipleship team she’s on transitioned from face-to-face to Zoom meetings.
“I got to see everyone” that way, she said.
And since the team members had developed a close relationship prior to the pandemic, they prayed together. Timothy Messenger, director of youth and young adult ministry, gave PowerPoint presentations about the faith to the team, she said.
But the team retreat was cancelled. Also cancelled was the parish mission trip that she planned to attend.
“I could have it so much worse,” Miss Holmes said. “I could be sick, in the hospital. I’m healthy and I’m home. … I always try to keep positive.”
Travis Benoit, 24, of Immaculate Conception Parish in Worcester, had to work remotely to finish his master’s degree in music from Manhattan School of Music. His concentration was classical vocal performance.
“The nature of classical music, especially, is collaborative,” he said. “It happens when people get close together and communicate. … It reflects our creator. … We all have this instinct to create.”
But collaboration has been missing during this time. When he serves as a substitute cantor at his parish, he realizes how much he’s been affected by the lack of collaboration, both in not being part of a choir and in not being able to lead the congregation in singing.
Collaboration is supposed to extend to the whole body – the Church – he said; without that collaboration, “it almost seems like a glorified solo.”
Finishing school online was “a nightmare for music,” Mr. Benoit said. He said performances were cancelled and technical difficulties presented problems, especially for a class that relied on “real-time audio,” where delays, inherent in Zoom meetings, didn’t work.
One thing that helped him was a project called “read a Bible in a year,” he said. In Scripture he’s seen how the people of Israel were just as imperfect as we are, but that God was always faithful, he said.
“He’s still faithful now to us,” Mr. Benoit said. “He’s still at work,” despite the pandemic and civil unrest.
“The second biggest thing that has really helped me get through this” was being with family, he said.
“God has challenged me to invest in my family more than I had,” he said. When he and his brother moved home from college, their parents at first were “fawning over us,” making special meals, he said.
“After a month and a half we started wearing on each other,” but now are in a good spot, he said. They’re there for each other, and able to love each other through it all, for which he thanks God.
Alisha Burrill, 31, whose home parish is Trinity Episcopal in Northbridge, said it’s been helpful to meet other young adults through the Worcester Diocese’s online Theology on Tap program.
Trinity has only Zoom services, she said, and there aren’t many young adults, which is “very tough.” But she’s also involved at St. Patrick Catholic Parish in Whitinsville, through which she serves the food pantry in town, she said. She’s eager to see what else St. Patrick’s does.
“I’m still working” as a residential counselor in a home for mentally disabled adults. “Just trying to keep them occupied” is difficult. They can’t go to their day programs and job sites, she can’t take them to stores, and she needs to remind them about social distancing and hand washing. It’s “been extremely stressful,” she said.
“In my personal life it’s a little bit easier,” she said.
“Some of my closest friends are far away,” she said. “Most of them I do still text or call. I’m on Facebook. … I would like to be able to see them in person and hug them.”
