In. Dan Joyce’s, S.J., homily to the St. Joe’s community during Easter Mass, he quoted from Cris Williamson’s “Song of the Soul,” specifically the lines “I am dancing, dancing along in the madness.” The lyrics mirror the task priests and clergy members have taken on this Easter season: sustaining the grace and sanctity of Holy Week amidst a time that can be described as nothing short of “madness.”
Although Holy Week is being observed by the Catholic community on unprecedented terms due to social distancing mandates, Joyce said in an interview that, oddly enough, he still feels a sort of solidarity with the Catholic community.
“There’s a weird way in which it may seem more powerful,” Joyce said. “There’s a power to what we’re doing. We are trying to reach across the distance to each other during this time. I think it’s helpful, because it gives [Catholics] a sense of being part of that larger community that they’re praying with.”
For Catholics, practicing their faith in the age of social distancing often means logging onto their computer and watching mass from the comfort of their living rooms via Zoom or Facebook Live. Joyce broadcasted Palm Sunday mass as well as Easter Mass to the St. Joe’s community from a table in the Jesuit residence on campus where he lives.
“What’s interesting for me is that this seems a little more intimate, a little more close up and personal,” Joyce said.
Rather than having viewers watch him say mass on an empty altar in front of a barren chapel, Joyce prefers this method and said that other people do too. However, it’s that empty chapel that has been the biggest adjustment for him and clergy members around the world during the Church’s most important week.
“It’s very nice to celebrate all of the celebrations of Holy Week with a community that’s coming together for each of them to make it happen,” Joyce said. “Because all of the celebrations of Holy Week are really like one long liturgy with different acts and different things that happened to Jesus over those days. So when the same congregation, the same choir, the same people gather over those three days, it’s really powerful. I really miss that.”
Dan Ruff, S.J., said that in many ways, Catholicism hinges on being able to celebrate with other members of the faith.
“It makes us appreciate how much our liturgy depends on a community and touch and symbolic gestures and a lot of those simply are not possible at this time,” Ruff said.
The lack of a tangible community and absence of Easter season tradition has likely left Catholics around the world longing for a return to normalcy. Bill Rickle, S.J., is optimistic that these circumstances could bring a heightened recognition of the importance of Church services whenever the post-coronavirus era comes.
“It could wind up being pretty profound in the long run,” Rickle said. “We are being deprived of the opportunity to gather and to celebrate sacraments together. One of the things that could come to our consciousness is how important they really are for us. I’m hoping that whenever we return to whatever passes for normal, we develop a greater appreciation for [going to mass]and the importance of the sacraments for us.”
Easter Sunday would have marked the peak of the Catholic year and the beginning of the home stretch towards finals for college students. Instead, churches are empty and Hawk Hill is deserted, but Rickle is still finding beauty in the madness. New life is already blooming on the St. Joe’s campus despite the conditions.
“The campus is so empty, but it’s also so beautiful right now,” Rickle said. “It’s just gorgeous, but there’s nobody to share it with.”
Rickle lives in Rashford Apartments; the building that normally houses over 200 residents is now home to only one. Rickle finds comfort in saying mass every day from his coffee table, where he is joined virtually by four or five others, saying “there is something consoling about seeing the faces who are celebrating with me.”
Rickle and Ruff put together virtual Holy Thursday and Good Friday celebrations for the Jesuit community at St. Joe’s. As Rickle stated with a laugh in his homily on Thursday to some of his closest friends, what he misses the most is something everyone can relate to.
“What I miss most is the ability for us to give one another a hard time and to be humbled by one another on occasion,” Rickle said. “Just that kind of stuff.”
Ruff, one of the Jesuits that Rickle misses joking with, pointed to hope as a necessity during these times.
“We have to find hope and new life in spite of the conditions because the core of our faith is that Christ is risen,” Ruff said. “So we have to hang on to that and look for the new life that can come out of this thing for the whole world.”
