A reflection from the archives of The Saturday Morning Post, April 21, 2018
April 21, 2021
Greetings, God and All...
Three years ago, before there was even a hint that face covering use would become a way of life and there weren't social guides and other sorts of gatekeepers at the doors of the church, mosque, or synagogue of your choice, I had the inspiration to reflect on just how far the faith had made effective use of social media in the mission of evangelization. Even as I was preparing to relocate my son and myself to new and yet familiar surroundings, little did I know then...
Back in my early days, the days before hundreds of television channels via cable and internet streams, the local channels offered programs of a religious genre. The Lutheran Church offered The Lutheran Hour and Davey and Goliath. The Jewish community aired a program for children called The Magic Door. Catholics were treated to Life Is Worth Living, presented by the great orator of the 1950s and 1960s, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Little by little, broadcast regulations changed and these programs were replaced by news programs, extended versions of Meet The Press and similar “panel discussion” programs. Religious programming might have died altogether were it not for people who would finance the evangelical Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the (Catholic) Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and shows by a growing number of non-denominational “televangelists” including Creflo A. Dollar, Reverend Ike, and more recently, Joel Osteen.
EWTN began on a wing and a prayer in 1981. Broadcasting only a few hours a day at first, from the very beginning daily Mass was presented. Locally in Chicago, “Mass For Shut-Ins” was aired on Sunday mornings. It’s bounced across several channels over the years and had a name change, but to this day those who search for it can still find it. In the age of live video streaming over the Internet, it is now possible not only to watch EWTN’s broadcasts, but local churches are presenting their services to the citizens of cyberspace as well. Two of my friends’ churches, as well as the Catholic community at the Marytown shrine in Libertyville, Illinois, are able to be viewed with just a few mouse clicks.
I am a big fan of this accessibility to what I’ll call ‘virtual’ church. For those with limited mobility, this brings the Church home and gives people the opportunity to hear God’s word preached and to pray (often in real time) with a community of faith. It is a boon to the sick and homebound. For me, it is an invitation to create a better prayer environment at home by opening a ‘window’ to an active house of prayer or dedicated chapel for devotion. I use this environment to pray the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) along with audio podcasts of the texts. The devotions of the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy and much more can be found through YouTube, along with beautiful representation of sacred art from paintings to stained glass windows and accompanied by classical sacred music.
My introduction to this online presence came from my late wife, Diane. She came across several devotional websites while researching curriculum for Nick, recipes, handicraft projects, and her own personal studies. I was indeed grateful for her legwork which indicated that some devoted people were indeed making use of modern technology as a resource for anyone able to access it. I continue to look for these and other sites and the treasures they might offer. I’m truly thankful to have this at my disposal.
For all its good and its potential outreach to anyone almost anywhere, however, it should not be considered a sole substitute for active participation in worship or liturgy for anyone apart from those confined for serious reasons. Take enough of the congregation out of the pews of churches, and the virtual outlets will dry up and wither away. Virtual church puts ultimate control of attention to content in the hands of the user. Even in my own experience, there are times where the distractions of time and place take me away from the extended sanctuary I have opened. There is also the danger of turning off preaching that is unsettling or doesn’t line up with an under-formed personal sense of spirituality, even when the source material is as good as it possibly gets.
This takes on another dimension when you consider receiving the sacraments. There’s no way to receive Holy Communion through a TV or computer screen, regardless of denomination. With the Catholic teaching of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine, the graces we seek through reception of this sacrament just aren’t accessible through a virtual environment.
It is important, therefore, to keep in mind an understanding to have a virtual presence available to those who truly need it and can benefit by it. This presence is of great help to sustain us throughout the week when our schedules are full; reminding us that God works 24/7 and that at any given time or place, we can interact with Him. Relying on virtual presence alone, though, leaves us still hungry for the sacred food and drink which sustains us on our pilgrimage to eternal life; and the companionship of other disciples and believers along the way.
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...How prophetic those words became, so it seems. I was more than willing and eager to participate in the establishing the virtual Church environment, going online months before churches would reopen, with capacity restraints and sanitary guidelines and social guides to oversee it all.
Has it been effective, even as a stop-gap measure?
That's hard to say. I don't have access to the numbers, and they vary from place to place. What I do know, and didn't think of three years ago, is that there's always a cost involved.
The cost, in terms of number of people, is probably negligible. Church attendance, already in a declining slope before the pandemic, has continued to decline, judging by the numbers of users watching services through online livestream. There's a financial cost as well; domains such as YouTube and Facebook are looking to how many users access livestream sites. If a consistent average isn't met over time, content providers (churches, etc.) will have a harder time getting content up and running. Then there's the equipment needed, anywhere from recording on a cell phone to the more sophisticated TV-quality audio-visual equipment and editing software. Plus, any copyrighted content must be properly licensed for broadcast, whether over-the-air or livestream.
For all that, I believe that if it connects one person to a continual nurturing and awareness of the spirit within, it's worth the cost. In practical terms, however, being able to sustain that is a difficult decision; one that few congregations can genuinely afford while at the same time make the push to get people to return to in-person worship.
Both of the Catholic congregations in which I had worked to provide online access recently stopped doing so. Numbers were flat; costs to livestream would increase; and the copyright license was up for renewal. I can't get upset over the decisions made, especially since most are in agreement that this was supposed to be a temporary solution due to the effects of the COVID pandemic...along with the points covered in the reflection I wrote three years ago.
Other congregations and dioceses continue to offer livestream and see it as an important tool to remain connected, especially to the most vulnerable and the homebound, as well as those who are possibly watching these programs in slots other than real-time. In a media market such as mine in metropolitan Chicago, there are several sources that have been established for a while and these are most likely to remain. Other newcomers to social media may retain an online presence because they see value in it that makes its expense an investment. My prayer is that we are not cutting off access prematurely, as variants to COVID and the uncertainty of many regarding the infection rate and the effectiveness of the vaccines - not to mention the politicization of the pandemic and the response to it - add to the division within our country and our congregations. If the Good Shepherd would leave 99 faithful in His lush pastures to find one lost sheep, then we must take this to heart and continue to show places where access remains to those who seek it.
Until we meet again, may the God of mercy be with you...
+the Phoenix
