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Public school students prepared for the sacraments of first reconciliation and first Communion over Zoom teleconferencing after city and state stay-at-home orders canceled their second grade Sunday school class at St. Ignatius Parish in San Francisco. The children will receive the sacraments when public Masses resume in the archdiocese. (Courtesy photo)
May 14, 2020
Christina Gray
Catholic San Francisco
Nine-year-old Kiki Palin was weeks away from making her first Communion at St. Ignatius Parish when San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order March 17 abruptly ended the parish’s second grade children’s Sunday faith formation program.Thanks to a catechist determined to sustain religious education for parish children amid the lockdown, Kiki and the program’s 22 other public school students will be ready for their first sacraments whenever churches open again for public Masses.
St. Ignatius’ longtime second grade children’s faith formation teacher Vanita Louie got a “thumbs up” from students and parents to continue their studies together on Zoom video meetings.
“It made a big difference in remaining connected to the community,” Kiki’s mother, Fiona Palin, told Catholic San Francisco May 13. “Especially at a time when we were looking forward to something as important as her first holy Communion.”
The digital application allows participants to see, hear and interact with each other in real time from home over their own computer screens.
The platform is now a ubiquitous feature of pandemic living. It is being used widely by schools for online learning as well as news broadcasts, entertainment and even virtual weddings and funerals.
Religious educators at St. Brendan Parish in San Francisco, St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Burlingame and St. Sebastian Parish in Greenbrae are also using Zoom and other technologies to ensure faith formation of parish children didn't stall when face-to-face lessons were canceled.“I missed doing it in the classroom, but it was nice because I still got to see everybody,” said Kiki, who attends Presidio Hills School.
The Sunday program followed the same schedule, workbook and prayers as the face-to-face version which prepares students for their first reconciliation and first holy Communion.
This is Louie’s 20th year preparing parish second graders for first reconciliation and first holy Communion. She is a volunteer catechist.
“I get two sacraments,” she said.
Louie said she found her calling for religious education when her now-adult children who attended public middle school at the time were confirmed at St. Ignatius, the family parish.
She did not want to give up on the sacramental preparation of her young students because of the shutdown.
”God never gives up on us,” she said.
She emailed her students and their parents and asked what they thought of the idea of finishing the program on Zoom.
“All 23 students emailed back in less than 48 hours with a ‘Yes, Mrs. Louie, we want to have Sunday school online' and we just continued where we left off," she said.
St. Ignatius pastor Jesuit Father Gregory Bonfiglio, St. Ignatius Parish pastor, made a surprise appearance on the home screen during one of the classes to the delight and amazement of some students, said Louie.
At the time, the class was talking about miracles and how Jesus walked on water and performed other miracles, she said.
“One student said to me, ‘Mrs. Louie, how did Father Greg know we were meeting up? That is like a miracle!’”
The class progressed in the hope the children would make their first sacrament of Reconciliation on May 3 and their first Holy Communion on May 10, Mother’s Day.Ultimately the extended lockdown forced the cancellation of both public church events.
Eight-year-old John Walter “J.W.” Glynn, a student at Cathedral School for Boys, told Catholic San Francisco he enjoyed his Zoom religious education but was disappointed his class didn’t get to make their sacraments this month.
“It felt pretty bad,” he said.
His mother Max Glynn said Louie did a good job engaging the children.
“It’s tough to connect with an eight-year-old boy,” she said. “But having access to a religious community and trying to keep things as routine as possible right now is important.”
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone announced May 12 the formation of a group of pastors and lay persons to draft safety protocols in keeping with government regulations that will “enable us to begin accommodating our people in public Mass.”
“We’re just waiting to hear when it’s possible to return to church so the children can have their sacraments of first Reconciliation and first Holy Communion,” said Louie.