Alton/Edwardsville, IL (KMOX) - The pews will be empty, but the pulpits will be full. Across Missouri and Illinois, live streaming has become a lifeline for faith communities during the coronavirus pandemic.
"One of my parishioners on Facebook sent pictures of their children painting stain glassed windows in their house, so there's a cross at the center that's kind of like their little chapel," says Father Jeremy Paulin of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alton, "I got another photo texted to me by a parishioner of their family all the children kneeling at prayer in front of the... they have the live feed on their television set over the fireplace, big screen, and four or five of the children kneeling there at the time of the consecration during mass."
Father Paulin says hundreds have joined live-streams of Sunday mass. The church has also connected through web casts of evening worship, prayer, and daily morning mass among priests. "The expressions that people are using, what they're saying about their love for the church their need for the community that's provided here that's not given by other experiences of community that people have which are good but there's really something... I think people are digging deeper, they're reaching deeper and I think that's one of the good things that's coming out of this."
Spiritual leaders say faith can be powerful during difficult times. Father Rob Johnson with St. Boniface Catholic Church in Edwardsville, Illinois has been recording videos on faith for the Springfield Diocese. "There's something outside of myself here, that I can actually lean on in these times that still provides joy and peace and hope, but I can experience it as very, very real in these moments. I'm not alone and there's meaning here, even if it doesn't explain it away, or anything like that, but God's presence is still here among us."
Father Johnson recommends spending time in prayer, asking how God wants you to devote this time to Him and to others. He says he's had more time for reflection himself. Johnson has been in quarantine since returning to the U.S. from France earlier this month.