Church takes services online to keep in touch with congregation during virus
Churches are turning to technology to help provide services to their congregation.
St Joseph’s Church in East Park, Wolverhampton, made the decision to close to the public after consulting with Wolverhampton Council’s Director of Public Health John Denley.
That decision was further reinforced by a letter from the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales asking churches to suspend masses and other liturgies from yesterday.
Following these developments, a decision was made by Father Craig Fullard and the churches of St Newman Cluster to begin live-streaming masses.
This has seen Father Craig and the team at St Joseph’s set up a temporary studio in one of the smaller chapels of the church.
Father Craig said the live-streaming was a way to help people stay connected to the church.
He said: “Because it’s likely that we’re not going to have people physically in the building for our masses, what we want to do is to enable people to join us for us spiritually.
“We’re going to live-stream the masses at the same time that we would have had masses in our cluster parishes.
“Those with internet access will be able to go on to our website and join us for mass each day.
“That will be quite important to a lot of people so that they can connect with their faith community and feel supported in prayer as well.”
The church will still be open for private prayers each day between 12pm and 3pm and Father Craig said he would open up the other churches in Bilston, Darlaston and Willenhall as necessary. Father Craig said the church was also looking to stream the masses on Facebook and other social media platforms.
He added: “We will do our best to make this look as good as possible. We’re amateurs at this sort of thing, so we’re learning as we go along.”
To view the live-stream masses, go to stnewmancluster.org
St Joseph’s Church is just one of many churches around the region which is turning to technology.
Castle Church in Stafford is currently broadcasting its Sunday service on Facebook Live and its website, with the broadcast then available on its Vimeo channel afterwards. Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Ettingshall in Wolverhampton is broadcasting its Morning and Evening Prayer services each day at 9am and 5pm and Sunday mass at 10am on Facebook Live.
Pete Bate, director of communications at the Diocese of Lichfield: “Our churches have a key role to play in terms of prayer and providing care and support for the most vulnerable members of our communities in the Black Country and Staffordshire.
“We’re already seeing local churches streaming or sharing services or prayers on Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere.
“Technology is one way to bring people together.”
To see the Castle Church services, go to facebook.com/castlechurchstafford and castlechurch.org.uk
To see the Holy Trinity Services, go to facebook.com/MHTEttingshall
