Here are some tangible ways you can digitally connect to your parishioners:

• Post hospitable, informative flyers on your church doors

“To ensure the safety of our parishioners we have temporarily closed our church building. We will continue to pray for the safety of you and your loved ones during this difficult time. Now more than ever, it is necessary for us to come together as a faith community to pray for the end of the virus, the wellbeing of our community and the intentions of the Holy Father. Please join us online for our digital faith community at (insert parish website) and follow us on Facebook at (FB handle) where we will be gathering as a faith community at home every Sunday for our livestream mass at 9am and every Wednesday for our reflection at 7pm.“ 

• Ask parishioners to call to other parishioners to check in on how they are doing and ask for ways to digital connect during this time 

• Encourage parishioners to actively participate in the mass with their families 

  • Dress up a little more than our usual comfy house clothes

  • Light a candle or two 

  • Set up chairs for your family 

• Practical considerations when communicating to your flock 

  • When possible all resources should be available in both written and video format 

  • Translate content as possible to different languages i.e. ASL

• A short video message of hope from the pastor or parish life director can go a long way 

  • Videotape a short video hitting these topics using a phone 

    • We are sorry for the ways in which COVID-19 has impacted your lives 

    • We are here as a faith community to support you and pray for you 

    • Invite parishioners to connect via website, facebook, instagram or flocknote 

    • Explain what prayer moments you will be praying as community i.e. live stream masses, live stream morning prayer, angelus, divine mercy, night prayer, etc.

    • We will get through this together 

      • Here is an example from Fr. John Keese of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton giving a message of hope and inviting his flock to join Palm Sunday’s liturgy online 

        • In english 

        • En español

• Try not to reiterate what the news is saying about the virus. This is an opportunity to pour the gospel of love, hope and mercy to your parishioners' newsfeed. 

• Create a community of prayer. Have parishioners email the parish office if they have any prayer requests and post these requests on your website or facebook

• If you have a youth minister or faith formation director, encourage them to connect to their respective communities by 

  • Livestreamed prayer moments on Instagram or Facebook 

  • Creating home activities for families 

  • Live streamed worship sessions 

• Outreach ideas 

  • Create a hotline or a flocknote for your parish so they may receive alerts on live streams or way they can help elderly or other vulnerable people in the parish during this time 

  • Create a google form or form on your website that parishioners can fill out on how they can help and ways in which they need help during this time 

•  Encourage parishioners to participate in the 2020 Census in the comfort of their homes via phone or online