In my ministerial work at Spiritus, I had just been used to doing programs where people met in person. While the technology had been present for virtual gatherings, I just did not do much with it and relied on what was known and familiar to me. COVID changed all that.
During the past few years, when all of our liturgies and programming went virtual, suddenly who could participate in events changed. One no longer needed to be in Rochester to fully engage, and Spiritus saw our membership grow to include people all over the United States, Canada and beyond. This was truly an amazing development and really enriched our community. Many people have said that they found a spiritual home here during the pandemic and feel part of Spiritus Christi through social media platforms.
I think about the early church and the constant challenges that it faced on how to respond to change. Some of those came from within the church, but some were brought on by external change as well. Like any human institution, “church” must keep adapting. This feels like one of those moments. How do we create a vibrant and meaningful community that includes local and non-local members?
One way that we’re trying to help the non-local members of the community connect is the formation of the “Virtual Small Christian Community” that has started to meet monthly. Two Spiritus members, Katie from Texas and Kathy from Iowa, help to facilitate a small faith sharing group that gives people a chance to come together to share lives and faith journeys. If you’re reading this blog and are a non-local member of Spiritus, please call the Spiritus office to connect with this group.
As one member of the virtual SCC from Florida said, “The Spiritus Small Group gives us one more opportunity to meet our fellow parishioners and, while doing so, to grow in both our knowledge and our faith while we share our faith with others.” And another from North Carolina said, “As a caregiver now located in North Carolina with a husband with Parkinson’s who has lost his ability to verbally communicate it is something I really look forward to.”
It is truly a blessing to be in a faith community that values diversity. One of the new diversities that we get to experience is geographic diversity – bringing people from all over together as we take up the discipleship journey in this present moment.
If you are part of Spiritus from outside of Rochester, we are so glad that you have found us. If you are part of Spiritus and live near Rochester, we are so glad that you have found us.
A few final thoughts…
If you are from outside of Rochester and tune in to mass (especially on Sundays), perhaps you’d consider putting your location in the chat and/or your screen name just in case others are looking for someone who might live in their geographic region.
And if you are from Rochester and have not realized how many regions our members come from, please check out the “global community map” that literally is helping to map where folks are from https://spirituschristi.org/global-community/
Truly we are blessed and enriched by all of these connections!