St. Patrick Parish in the Time of COVID-19: Facing Global Crisis with Great Faith & Discipleship

One year ago, the global pandemic that began changing the way Americans live — and worship — was an entirely unprecedented event. While St. Patrick, like Catholic churches across the world, had to adapt to new ways of serving God’s people, one thing remained the same — the strong faith and active discipleship of our parish family. Throughout this time, Fr. Estrella has continued to provide spiritual nourishment for parishioners and has, in turn, been inspired by the acts of love and service he has witnessed taking place in our faith community over the past year.

While the Catholic faithful of the world were dearly missing the gift of the Eucharist with the suspension of public Masses last spring, St. Patrick was able to keep our parishioners as closely connected to the sacraments as possible. Thanks to the livestream of Masses, parishioners were able to watch these liturgical celebrations from the beginning of the national quarantine. In fact, video streaming of the evening Rosary began the very first day of our church closure! Flocknote and the myParish app also facilitated communication between the church and parishioners.

Diving into the world of possibilities offered by modern technology, Fr. Estrella also sent out regular video messages, including an “Ask Father” series. During Holy Week, he encouraged parishioners to put wooden crosses in their yards and wrap them in white lights with the idea of illuminating them on the Easter Vigil. As a result, more than 50 crosses lit up around the county on the night of the Vigil. Similarly, Father asked parishioners to create May altars in their homes and share photos of them with the parish.

By finding creative ways to stay connected throughout the time of church closure, our faith community remained vibrant.

“People enjoyed the community projects we did and the nightly Rosary,” Fr. Estrella says. “And even during the 12 weeks we didn’t have public Masses, we still had Adoration, confessions, and visited the sick. We tried to make confessions and Adoration even more available so people would have that solace.

“Of course, we all keenly felt the suspension of public Masses,” he adds. “But we were able to keep a strong sense of community and connection going as we navigated that rough period. So once Masses resumed, we were strong in numbers. About half of the parish came back for Mass, which is a high number compared to other parishes.”

When public Masses started and then were restricted to only outdoor gatherings, countless parishioners stepped up to help make the outdoor Mass space both functional and reverent.

“Even moving to the outdoor Masses is a testament to the spirit of St. Patrick’s, because when we had to make that change, it was difficult to do it well,” Fr. Estrella says. “I wanted to keep a sense of

the sacred, so I put out an ‘APB’ and had a really good group of about 20 people involved at different times. It very much looks like a proper sanctuary.”

Preparing the space for outdoor Mass involved extending and carpeting the existing outdoor stage and building panels to create a background wall. Next, two parishioners painstakingly worked on pleating the cloth over the panels — with one parishioner on a ladder pleating and stapling the top edge and another doing the same along the bottom! The altar is properly dressed, there is a traditional ambo, and the Blessed Sacrament is kept in the repository typically used for the Triduum.

Certainly, this past year has been challenging in many ways. However, even during these tough times, there have been many unexpected blessings.

“The first blessing is that the parish is growing,” Fr. Estrella says. “We’re seeing people coming back to the Church and new people interested in the Church. I think for some, they are seeing a need to become more engaged with their faith and the sacramental life of the Church.

“I’ve also seen the level of dedication in a lot of parishioners increase,” he adds. “They are wanting to go deeper into their faith life. We have people sign up to set up and take down the Masses, and there are new people every week. That’s an important thing to see.”

Fr. Estrella is also thankful that our parish school, Mt. St. Mary’s Academy, has been able to stay open full time this year. Both Fr. Estrella and our Parochial Vicar, Fr. German Ramos, teach religion in the school. They have been greatly encouraged by the school’s high enrollment numbers and, most especially, the overwhelmingly positive response to the mission of the school, which continues to be St. Patrick's largest ministry.

Witnessing the many ways that our parishioners have continued to be active disciples of Christ during this time of social distancing has been a great source of inspiration to many. Whether it be in their continued generosity with financial contributions to the parish, in their gracious navigation of health protocols — such as wearing masks and sanitizing pews — or in the countless ways that they have engaged in an active faith life both at home and in the parish, the Catholic faithful of Grass Valley are continuing to live the Gospel call of Jesus.

“I see this as a foretaste of what post-COVID life is going to look like,” Fr. Estrella says. “People want involvement, more opportunities for faith formation and spiritual development, and to build on this sense of community. I really see the hope of the harvest. My desire has been to create a culture that places St. Patrick’s at the heart of people’s lives, and I see that coming through in different small groups and events that really help people connect and have a strong sense of a solid Catholic community. This is a parish that desires to truly live as disciples.”