Isolated but not alone: resources for Catholics

A compilation of online resources for Catholics during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Good Friday, the Genesis Foundation will share the beautiful film of composer James MacMillan’s Stabat mater concert in the Sistine Chapel, 7.30pm (UK time).

On Easter Sunday (April 12, 2020), Italian tenor and global music icon Andrea Bocelli will give a solo performance at the historic Duomo, the cathedral of Milan, Italy, by invitation of the City and of the cathedral, and thanks to the hospitality of the Archpriest and the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo. It will be streamed on his YouTube channel from 6pm UK time, 10am PST, 1pm EST.

Turin Cathedral is to live-stream a special prayer service at the Shroud of Turin on Holy Saturday. 

Ampleforth Abbey has begun live-streaming daily Mass in the Ampleforth Abbey Church in addition to audio live streaming. 

A list of parishes in Britain providing livestream Masses, Adoration, prayer and more can be found via this link. The Church of the Holy Ghost and St Stephen in west London is among those live-streaming Holy Mass.

Buckfast Abbey are streaming offices and Mass every day throughout the week, and several times a day. Times of services: Monday to Saturday: Matins 6.30am, Lauds 7.45am?, Holy Mass 9.00am, Vespers 6.30pm?, Compline 8.00pm (In Private on Saturday). Sunday: Matins 6.45am, Lauds 7.45am, Holy Mass 10.30am, Vespers 6.30pm, Compline 8.00pm.

Jesuits at Farm Street livestream Mass every day at 6pm. There is a list of more live-stream Masses in the Archdiocese of Westminster here.

The Dominicans have a large number of options. In particular, Blackfriars Oxford has been live-streaming their daily Masses at 7:30am with daily sermons from Frs Radcliffe, Gaine, Ounsworth and more. (I'm going to try this one myself! Maybe see you there. RG) Moreover, the community at Blackfriars will be celebrating and live-streaming Tenebrae and the Liturgies of the Paschal Triduum. We have published a text of a recent Timothy Radcliffe homily on the abundance of God's love, from one of the daily livestreamed Masses.

Every Monday evening, Taizé streams live on Facebook prayers with a small group of brothers from the community. The community puts up the live link just before it starts at 8.30pm CET, and also posts the songs for the evening in advance. 

Malcolm McMahon OP, Archbishop of Liverpool, is to live-stream the Holy Week and Easter Services from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool. The stream can be accessed from the Metropolitan Cathedral’s website. The Archbishop said: "This year our Holy Week devotions will have to be different as we rightly respect government restrictions.  We cannot physically gather as a worshipping community, but live-streaming gives us the opportunity to join together spiritually in sincere prayer and devotion as we commemorate the passion, death and glorious resurrection of the Lord."

St Peters and the Winchester Martyrs RC Parish, of Winchester, Hants have been live-streaming since lockdown began, with parish priest Fr Mark Hogan. Every day there is Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Mass at 7pm, and a 10 am Mass on Sundays. Numbers keep growing, and they have people joining from all over the world. The main Easter Mass had more than 2000 people participating. They are hosting a Virtual Prayer Room with many opportunities to pray and join others for virtual sociability. The parish is also reaching out to anyone in the community who needs help and has launched PeterCares (PeterCares@stpeterswinchester.org.uk ) and is hoping to befriend any who need it, initially with friendly phone calls. Our Facebook page is very active with Parishioners contributing messages, prayer, and music. A very popular new idea is that Fr Mark will light candles in the church for anyone with an intention, and then posts a picture on FB of the candles, with a list of those prayed for. Details of all of these activities are on their website.

A new Sunday Liturgy for families with children of primary school age has been created by Ten Ten Resources to help enable Sunday prayer and worship during the period of church closures.

Our news story on the Rededication of England on 29 March has embeds and links, including to a special message from Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and a page where you can watch again the original live-stream of the prayer service.

The Latin Mass Society has put together a catalogue of online resources to assist with private or family devotions at home.

Portsmouth diocese has a livestream from the cathedral every day at 12.15pm plus many other spiritual and liturgical resources on their dedicated coronavirus page.

Redemptorist Publications are live-streaming Sunday Holy Mass, celebrated by Fr Denis McBride CSsR.

Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy is live-streaming Masses on Monday to Saturday at 6pm, and on Sundays at 11am. The chaplaincy is are  streaming Adoration services on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9pm. The links are through the chaplaincy's website and Facebook page.

The Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols celebrated a livestreamed Thanksgiving Mass for Victory in Europe Day from Westminster Cathedral. The Mass was recorded so it can be viewed afterwards at the same link.

The Benedictine sisters at Minster Abbey in Thanet are live-streaming their community's Daily Office, starting with Compline at 7.50pm each day. Other hours of prayer may be added. Go to this link and click on "subscribe" at the opening screen.

Growing Old Gracefully has a dedicated page with articles, reflections and links to live-stream Masses.

Pope Francis called on Christians the world over to pray the Lord’s Prayer in unity on Wednesday 25 March.

Bishop Patrick McKinney invites all  to join him praying for each other and praying especially for those affected by Covid-19.

Pope Francis and the Vatican have cancelled all public masses. However the Pope's daily Masses at Casa Santa Marta and the Sunday Angelus are being streamed live on the Vatican's YouTube channel. No need to watch live, tune in at any time. 

The nuns at Stanbrook are doing daily eucharistic services without a priest and publishing homilies online, delivered by a different sister each day

"Might I make a few suggestions in regard to our retreat? Get out your Bible and read one of the Gospels in its entirety—perhaps the Gospel of Matthew, which we are using for Sunday Mass this liturgical year. Read it slowly, prayerfully; use a good commentary if that helps." Bishop Robert Barron has written a helpful article for this time, and his website Word on Fire has many useful online resources.

Universalis. "The Lord has commanded us to pray without ceasing, and this is what the Hours help us do." Online Liturgy of the Hours, recommended by Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan, in his pastoral letter and decree.

James Alison has posted in detail about 'praying eucharistically' with helpful tips for people he describes as "any members of the priesthood" – in other words, all the baptised!

Ireland's Knock Shrine broadcasts daily Masses online and will send out Mass cards. In addition, a National Novena to Our Lady of Knock began St Patrick’s Day, 17 March, and continues to the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25 2020. The shrine states: "We invite everyone to join with us for the Novena in which we pray for a swift end to the corona virus, Covid-19, the protection of all people against it, all who are ill at this time and all medical and civil authorities dealing with the virus." Archbishop Eamon Martin is inviting priests and bishops to join with him, after the Angelus on the Feast of Annunciation, 25 March, in consecrating Ireland and her people to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for protection from the coronavirus. The shrine is inviting Catholics to join online from Knock Shrine for two sessions daily: 12 noon, for the Angelus Mass and Novena prayers; 7.00pm for Rosary, Mass and Novena prayers followed by Eucharistic blessing. You can also join in the Novena by writing an online petition and lighting a candle which will then be lit at the Shrine for you.

Rathfarnham Parish, Dublin has its own livestream and also has a page featuring live and upcoming video streams of Masses, ceremonies, Vatican events and monastic offices from Ireland and around the world which is updated by the hour. The parish also has a regular video re-enactment of the day's Gospel. 

The National Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham is live-streaming all Masses.

CatholicArena on Twitter has created a thread with a list of churches streaming online Masses, mainly but not exclusively in Ireland.

Catholic Masses live online. With a calendar to see available Masses live online, you can find services all over the world, including specifically  in English and even add the stream to Google calendar. The website was created for the sick, home bound and all who cannot go to Mass or live in an area with no services avaiable. The site also has an Android app.

Church Services TV streams Masses, weddings, funerals, music and all other kinds of events from churches, halls and other venues. The website states: "By making services available on PC’s, laptops, mobile devices and TV sets anywhere in the world, CSTV helps those confined to home or care facilities, and those living away from home, keep in touch with their parish and continue to be part of the local community."

The Taize community is broadcasting evening prayer live from the community in France every day at 8.30pm Central European Time  (7.30pm UK)

In Scotland, churches streaming live Masses include St Andrews Cathedral, Glasgow, St John the Baptist, Uddingston, St Francis Xavier’s, Falkirk, St Theresa’s, Dumfries, St Margaret’s Cathedral, Ayr, and St Augustine’s, Coatbridge. 

Bayard have provided the text of Sunday Liturgies, including those for children, free online, as well as other online resources. 

St Mary's Press has online readings, reflections and questions, suitable for young people and children, updated daily. 

The Jesuit Post's Curriculum Guide has articles and videos from the past eight years organised in nearly twenty different themes. 

Heaven's Road Catholic Online Radio broadcasts 24/7 prayers, reflections, features and music, plus live Masses from more than 15 churches in England and Ireland. If you missed anything, you can listen again to more than 200 programmes.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is to lead a national broadcast as the Church of England responds to the challenge of becoming a “different sort of church” in the face of the coronavirus crisis. The service including prayers, hymns and a short sermon will be broadcast online by the Church of England and broadcast across 39 local BBC radio stations this Sunday in response to the crisis.

In the US, Magnificat is offering free access to streaming and other resources online to help Catholics to pray at home.

The monks of St Benedict's Abbey, Kansas are offering a "Holy Week Retreat-in-Place" complete with an immersive retreat guide, conferences, and streaming all liturgies so anyone who wishes can spend Holy Week in a time of retreat. In addition they stream all liturgies on their YouTube channel. 

The Tablet has published a long list of churches and dioceses in the US live-streaming Holy Mass and more.

Organisers of the Rededication of England as the Dowry of Mary are urging Catholics to make a personal act of rededication on 29 March if events they were due to attend in cathedrals and parishes are cancelled because of the coronavirus.

And The Tablet's Rome correspondent Christopher Lamb has blogged and Facebook lived about isolating as Catholics and as a family, while finding ways to practise the faith.

Spiritual Resources

The English Benedictines have a comprehensive new resource live on their website, Alone Together. It has films, stories, reflections and guidance and gained 1,500 views in the first 48 hours of its launch. 

Fr Stephen Wang has started live-streaming and sharing videos on the new YouTube channel “Pause for Faith”.

In this short "d'var Torah", former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, responds to the crisis with a reasoned conviction born of faith that revelation speaks, and that it speaks now.

'Many things, good or bad, nourishing or destructive, true or false can bring us closer together. The global health emergency is doing it by reminding us, as the environmental emergency should, of the reality that we are a single family; we share a beautiful home; our differences are really interesting not threatening; and we need to learn how to share better and to live in a more joyful way. This crisis can bring us together for the sake of goodness, for new depth of wisdom and kindness. It is not all about fear.' The World Community for Christian Meditation is offering a contemplative path through the crisis.

Bishop of Aberdeen Hugh Gilbert OSB, former Abbot of Pluscarden, has put together a great video on how to pray at home through the Easter Triduum.

Churches Together in England are asking Christians to join in prayer in their homes every Sunday at 7pm.

Jesuits online Lent retreat. This year's retreat run by Jesuits in Britain, titled, Journey Into Freedom, is based on the spiritual exercises of the order's founder, St Ignatius of Loyola. This Lent it is a daily journey through the life of Jesus, praying with scripture. The resources include a booklet that can be downloaded for use at home, a guide on how to pray with Lectio Divina and an introduction. Every day a new exercise is posted, with a "stilling" or preparation exercise, guidance, thought for the day, suggested "conversations" with Jesus, the Father or Mary, Bible readings and prayer.

Faith in Isolation, a project of St Peter's House, a new platform to help spiritual practice while in isolation, including a 24-hour live-stream from Walsingham.

Some members of the Spirituality Committee at the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales have set up a supportive Facebook Group for this time, called CCC - Christ, Covid, Community. It is a public group open to all who want to reach out to, and be reached by, those affected by Covid-19. It is the space to open doors in spite of, possible) isolation, allow hearts speak to hearts, and share journeys through this wilderness, remembering you are not alone. It promotes the Christ-centred solidarity that is stronger than any illness. It is a space to share thoughts, struggles, hopes, dreams, tips and prayers. Since its establishment on 12 March, this group as at 18 March has 165 members and reaches Christians across many countries.

The Corrymeela Community has produced "Prayers for Community in a Time of Pandemic".

Marriage Care has moved all its face-to-face services to online alternatives using secure webcam and video conferencing technology – just like having face-to-face support, except you talk to a trained counsellor or marriage preparation facilitator online using a secure video link, similar to Skype or FaceTime. 

The Jesuits in Britain have made scripture prayer sheets, known as "prego", available online.

The Irish Catholic Bishops have published a varied selection of prayers for use during the coronavirus pandemic, including Pope Francis' prayer to Mary, an extract from St Patrick's Breastplate, Novena prayers in preparation for the Feast of the Annunciation and a special guide, Praying at Home with St Patrick. A wide variety of broadcast, online and radio parish Masses has also been gathered into one place by the Irish Catholic Bishops.

One priest, Fr Cassidy Stinson, has created a Google spreadsheet inviting followers on Twitter to submit Catholic prayer requests.

Church Action on Poverty has set up a weekly zoom gathering, starting on 2 April: What does it mean to be a Church on the Margins in a time of coronavirus? 

This year's Feast of Pentecost marked the 53rd anniversary of the opening of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool in 1967. It also marked the 15th anniversary of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Liverpool in 1982. This year the bi-annual Two Cathedrals Service was due to take place. This service which starts in one cathedral and ends in the other with the congregation choirs and clergy having walked down Hope street had to be cancelled. However a streamed Two Cathedrals’ Service did take place and was posted online.  It was introduced by the Dean of the Metropolitan Cathedral, Canon Anthony O’Brien and concluded by the Dean of Liverpool Cathedral, Rev Sue Jones. Both Archbishop Malcolm McMahon and Bishop Paul Bayes spoke and the virtual walk along Hope Street was led and described by Dr Sheryl Anderson, chair of the Liverpool Methodist Group.

Reading, Watching, Listening

A new online exhibition celebrates the life of St John Paul II. It covers many significant events and focuses on his important teaching on solidarity. Included is John Paul’s visit to the United Kingdom in 1982, the first visit there by a reigning Pope, including his meetings with the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 24,000 Polish people at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. The Polish Ambassador Arkady Rzegocki, who in an article in The Tablet recently paid tribute to St John Paul II and especially his teachings on solidarity, welcomed the exhibition.

For those of you who enjoy Jonathan Tulloch's regular Tablet column, Glimpses of Eden, he has now started a podcast, Birth of a Naturalist.

Growing Old Gracefully, a small charity based in Leeds Diocese, has begun offering spiritual and material support to the elderly during the lockdown period. Its website contains reflections, prayers and links to online religious services, plus information about where to access help or offer help.

If you enjoy Jonathan Tulloch's columns in The Tablet and elsewhere, do have a listen to his podcast, where he talks us through his wandering in the lanes of the deep North Yorkshire countryside, with musical accompaniment from Aidan Tulloch.

Tours of the Sistine Chapel, performances of Porgy and Bess and other classics, and an inspirational Ted talk from former chief rabbi Lord Sacks, all online via our Digital Arts page.

The Chester Mystery Plays were performed in Chester Cathedral by more than 200 and watched by more than 7,500. They are being released online and the first is now available.

The nuns at the famous French Abbey de Jouques are releasing 7000 hours of Gregorian chant online. Some audio and video is already available.

In our lead feature in the Easter edition, Timothy Radcliffe OP has some suggestions for how we might change our lives moving forwards into the future. This is a watershed moment for all of us, he says. 

The Art of Dying Well has published an interview with a hospital chaplain working with victims of Covid-19. Fr Frankie Mulgrew speaks of ministering to people who are technically alone, and reassuring them they are not really alone, because God is with them.

Lucy Lethbridge in the print edition of The Tablet has put together a useful lists of box sets to watch over the weekend.

Eric Immel SJ has published in Jesuit Post an article with links to Youtube videos with lovely music to listen to in self-isolation, with a particular appeal to the you, and he explains how this music has helped him.

Check some interesting links for live-streamed theatre, online exhibitions and more on The Tablet's online arts page.

In a podcast, Cardinal Vincent Nichols looks back on the first Sunday in which there were no public Masses in Westminster Cathedral as a result of the COVID-19 social distancing directive.

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales are uploading a daily podcast of a reading from St Matthew's Gospel during Lent.

NCR has a Coronavirus Tracker, an aggregated news source with a daily collection of links.

"The final Mass before shutdown at my local Catholic Church was like a bereavement, where people muttered consoling words to on another but with a strong sense of fatalism." Clifford Longley responds to the crisis.

Francis Stewart of Cafod's theology team reflects on what he is learning during Lent from the coronavirus pandemic.

With cinemas shutting down across the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, people are turning to streaming platforms to occupy their time during social distancing. Aleteia lists 12 good Catholic movies to watch, starting with A Man for All Seasons, about St Thomas More. 

'Uncertain as this time is, it seems to me that the pandemic is providing an opportunity for us to collectively examine our lives and to perhaps look anew at the unseen and ordinary.' Ryan Birjoo SJ on 'Contemplation in Quarantine'. 

'This morning I spoke on the phone with a Catholic friend who was born in the small village of Zhang Jia Tai. The name of the village indicates that it is the ancestral home of the Zhang family, a common way in which Chinese villages were named. Although the village is in the heart of Hubei province it has completely escaped the ravages of the coronavirus outbreak. Its clean bill of health is due to the fact that it was sealed off from surrounding areas in the early days of the current epidemic.' A series of letters from a Catholic who lives in Wuhan and prefers to remain anonymous, giving a first-hand account of the situation in the city at the centre of the Coronovirus infection, published by ICN.

"They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise, you can hear the birds again." Columbans UK have posted a thoughtful reflection by Fr Richard Hendrick, OFM.

Another interesting reflection, this one by the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan in the US on the impact of coronavirus on his community.

Tina Beattie recommends: "If you're a church goer feeling deprived of worship I recommend Nick Mayhew-Smith's book, 'The Naked Hermit', about the earliest Christians in Britain and how their church was the whole natural world. You too could wade bare-bottomed into the North Sea and sing psalms!" 

A Dominican nun in Summit, New Jersey has offered some tips on self-isolation drawing on her experience of 30 years of "self-isolation".

Fr Thomas Reese has offered his thoughts on spirituality during the outbreak in the National Catholic Reporter.

Also in the NCR, Heidi Schlumpf points out the responsibility of parents for the religious education of their children is even more salient in a time when children cannot attend school or Church.

Wondering which saint to pray to for intercession? The blogger SensusFidelium has posted a list of the patron saints of plagues. 

Alexander Seale wonders, in the Independent, how the pandemic will change the way the Church operates.  

What can we learn from this cloistered nun, who limits contact with the world as a part of the religious life she observes?

VidAngel, a family-friendly streaming app and original content studio, has made all content free for the next two weeks. This includes VidAngel’s popular original series The Chosen about the life of Jesus and his disciples, and Dry Bar Comedy, the standup comedy series featuring the world’s largest collection of clean standup comedy.

A series of reflections on how to cope with anxiety and loneliness in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, including simple Christian meditation techniques and five tips, have been published by the Church of England. A number of actions that could help people feeling isolated or worried, as well as those who grieve, are put forward in a new guide Supporting Good Mental Health and written by Durham University academic Revd Professor Chris Cook with Ruth Rice Director of the Christian mental health charity Renew Wellbeing.

Advice

The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have put together guidelines for parishes and other organisations.

The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have recorded a talk with Professor Jim McManus, director of public health for Hertfordshire and a key contributor to the Bishops' Conference Healthcare Reference Group for the Catholic Church. He worked on the bishops' guidelines for Catholics. In this recording, he talks about how we can all do our bit to combat the spread and keep ourselves safe - especially the most vulnerable members of our society. There is also guidance from the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols on how to respond to the crisis.

Forming Missionary Disciples has published a substantial free resource for clergy and parishes who are wanting to, or have recently started, live-streaming.

CSAN and SVP have collaborated on producing guidance on volunteering and other options during the crisis. CSAN has created a dedicated coronavirus webpage which is constantly under development. 

Divine Renovation UK has a list of parish webinars geared towards parish priests and leadership teams as they try to navigate what this new situation means for parish life. The first one, for example, was about taking church online. Divine Renovation say the crisisis sparking a small digital revolution, but for those parishes with no digital expertise or communications, it is difficult to stay connected. And many parishes are also hit by the fact they have few online givers and still rely on collection plates and cash. DR have created a space for parishes to learn from each other, and have had priests and lay leaders joining from 17 different dioceses in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Read also this wonderful blog by the priest at a parish in the Arundel and Brighton diocese, about his adventures in live-streaming and the amazing stats he is getting on engagement, views and reach. He dived into this after watching a Divine Renovation training vid.

"The key guidance right now is to remain balanced and ensure you are well prepared." The UK Consortium of LGBT+ Voluntary and Community Organisations, of which LGBT Catholics is a member, is offering advice in the crisis.

Official NHS Advice on Coronavirus (Covid-19)

The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker is available online. It is freely available and will continue to be updated throughout the crisis. The tracker launches with data from 73 countries so far, including China, South Korea, Italy, UK, Canada and USA.  

Cinnamon Network is developing a toolkit of resources to help churches respond to the needs of their communities, pooling knowledge, drawing on advice from expert partners and using technology to empower the church to bring hope to their communities. All denominations welcome. 

The Anglican cleric Rev Hilary Ison has published an article on 'trauma and tragedy in congregations'. She is a specialist in this area for the Church of England. 

If you know of any more, or would like your group or church listed here, please email us.