Coronavirus And The Church

From the Board of Directors at the National Catholic Office for the Deaf, we want to let you all know that we are praying for all of you, our brothers and sisters, around the world facing the coronavirus impact. As we have seen so many places having imposed restrictions and several lockdowns aiming to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Masses in many dioceses being suspended until further notice is one of those restrictions. In light of that, we have noticed a rise in the use of technology to broadcast the Sunday liturgy, in which several of our Deaf and hearing priests now offer live-streaming of the ASL Masses for our Deaf brothers and sisters who can watch from home. Here is the list of ASL Masses being live-streamed on Sundays until further notice:

Saturdays:

1. Fr. Thomas Rozman – Pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Mechanicsburg, Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – Live-Streaming Mass in ASL 4:00pm EST. The Mass can be accessed at this link: stjosephmech.org.

2. Fr. Seán Loomis – Chaplain and Coordinator for the Philadelphia Deaf Apostolate, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Sunday ASL Mass will be posted after 6pm at: facebook.com/DeafCatholicPhilly

3. Fr. Matthew Hysell OP –  Ministerial Priest for the Archdiocese of Edmonton and Doctoral Candidate for Sacred Theology at Dominican University College in Ottawa, Canada – ASL Vigil Mass 7:30pm EST on FaceBook Live: facebook.com/icdacanadiansection

Sundays:

1. Fr. Shawn Carey – Director of the Boston Deaf Apostolate, Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts – Sunday ASL Mass 9:15am EST on YouTube Live: youtube.com/user/DeafApostolateBoston  After live-streaming, the video will be available at bostondeafcatholic.org which can be viewed at your convenience.

2. Monsignor Glenn Nelson J.C.L. – Director of Rockford Deaf Apostolate and Vicar General, Diocese of Rockford, Illinois – Sunday ASL Mass 10:00am CST on FaceBook Live: facebook.com/RockfordDeafApostolate

3. Fr. Mike Depcik – Director of Detroit Catholic Deaf Community, St John’s Deaf Center, Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan – Sunday ASL Mass 11:30am EST on FaceBook Live: facebook.com/deafmass 

4. Fr. Tom Schweitzer and Deacon Tomas Garcia – Holy Angels Catholic Church of the Deaf, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California 8:30am PST (ASL and spoken English) & 11:30am EST (ASL and Spanish/Español)  youtube.com/user/hacofthedeaf/live

5. Interpreted Virtual Mass – Fr. Dave Korth with an ASL interpreter – Sacred Heart Church, Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska, Mass can be viewed at either the church’s website: sacredheartchurchomaha.org or their YouTube Channel:YouTube.com/SacredHeartChurchOmaha

6. Interpreted Live-Streaming Sunday Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael Olson, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas 11:00am CST. To view the Mass, you can log on to: fwdioc.org. It is then uploaded to that website for later viewing (normally by early evening).

7. Fr. Tom Coyte – Director of Colorado Catholic Deaf Ministry – Sunday ASL and Spoken English Mass 10:00am MST: stbernadettelakewood.org. It can also be viewed at either the church’s Facebook Page: St Bernadette Parish Lakewood CO FaceBook Page or the church’s YouTube channel: St. Bernadette Parish Lakewood CO YouTube Channel

8. Interpreted Virtual Mass – Very Reverend Patrick Schafer OFM, Pastor with an ASL Interpreter – Holy Family Church, Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 8:00am MST English 10:00am MST Spanish. Mass can be viewed at either the church’s FaceBook page: Holy Family Church Albuquerque FaceBook Page or their YouTube Channel: Holy Family Church Albuquerque YouTube Channel

If you know of your diocesan Deaf Ministry or others doing any videotaping or live-streaming of the Masses, please email the info to Fr. Shawn Carey at NCODPresident@gmail.com. We will be happy to add the info on this list.

Pope Francis’ Prayer to Mary for Her Powerful Intercession to be freed by the evil of the virus:

O Mary, you always shine on our path as a sign of salvation and of hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm. You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need, and we are sure you will provide so that, as in Cana of Galilee, we may return to joy and to feasting after this time of trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform to the will of the Father and to do as we are told by Jesus, who has taken upon himself our sufferings and carried our sorrows to lead us, through the cross, to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.