As the COVID-19 epidemic spread and social distancing procedures were implemented to society, places of worship around downtown Phoenix had to work quickly in order to accommodate to the changes and provide its members with the best results.
St. Mary’s Basilica, like many others, are having to stream their services online to keep that close connection with its members to allow people to feel as if they’re worshipping in the church.
“We are streaming our services using social media like Facebook, Youtube and our website. We are doing a live stream for our Sunday masses,” said Parish Manager Jerome Doris. “Using all those resources that are available to us to keep in touch with our community, we even use it for events.”
Although adjusting to the epidemic guidelines was easy, St. Mary’s Basilica faces other problems.
“The biggest impact is financially, because our donations come through Sunday when people come to church and make a donation, we don’t have that income coming in anymore so we have to readjust ourselves to make sure that we are available now for our community and to make sure that we will be available in the future also,” Doris said.
Other churches like First Institutional Baptist Church and Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church are also jumping in and streaming their services for people to enjoy and participate while at home.
“We are not holding worship services with more than 10 people. We are live streaming, utilizing Facebook Live to stream and provide our Bible studies as well as our worship service on Sunday, and our church school service that we have for an hour,” said director of operations, Carolyn Engram’ Sullivan.
Sullivan said she is happy for the internet at these times of despair, and wished more people started utilizing these tools to stay in contact with the church and its services. She also said she wants the community to know that the church cares and people can still come together even if it’s under different circumstances.
“You can do things from a distance, and other gestures that let people know that there is still love and that Jesus still loves them, the church is still here and still very active and vibrant in spite of what is going on in the world. Some things never change, you just have to learn how to do things a little bit differently. We are all adapting, and so far it seems to be working fine,” said Sullivan.
Pilgrim Rest changed their days for the facility to be open to two days, Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. -1 p.m.
The church also provides a fact sheet about the Coronavirus on the website, including sections about what people should do at this time, offering resources and updates about new information.
Pilgrim Rest has incorporated a link on their website where people can make donations to the church electronically. The church also accepts gifts and donations through the mail. It has gone as far as trying something new called ‘Text to Give’ where members can give back to the church with just a simple text.
“Last Sunday we had close to 75 new people who gave to the church for the first time through ‘Text to Give.’ ‘Text to Give’ has been a great platform for us,” said Pastor Perry Mackey.
Mackey said he invites everyone to enjoy the activities that they provide for their community online.
Although social distancing guidelines have been recommended, the church is providing fun activities for families to stay active while still at home. Activities range from yoga to financial fit classes and other new ideas for the members to stay connected and active.
“We are titling this ‘Pilgrim Power’ referring to keeping our church empowered even during this time,” said Pastor Mackey.
Information for the activities are provided on their calendars found online.
Churches are keeping everyone in their prayers through these hard times, and want the community to know that no matter the circumstances their services will be provided no matter what and to their best ability.
“We miss our congregation and our visitors who very much reside in the Basilica as home and we are praying for them, we are praying for those who have been impacted directly by COVID-19, who suffer illness and whose family are suffering illness,” Doris said. “We are trying to do our bit by keeping our spiritual hope going as well.”
Contact the reporter at Frida.Mata@asu.edu.
