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April 29, 2021
Dear Parishioners,In December 2018, St. Joseph Catholic Church began to livestream Masses and other celebrations. The first event was St. Joseph’s School Christmas concert.
We began small, just one camera in the back of the church, but when the pandemic began, we were prepared. The main adjustment was moving from livestreaming two weekend Masses to daily Mass. When the church reopened in June 2020, the communications team talked about inviting our parishioners to be part of the Media Ministry. Many of you responded and learned very quickly.
At the end of 2020, we began to talk about expanding our streaming service to help our parishioners and online visitors to have a better experience of the Mass. We had already added subtitles and the main responses to the screen. However, the next step was to buy extra cameras for smoother transitions and better quality, in addition to creating a space in the church dedicated to the streaming service.
In January, 2021, the building of the new space began by transforming one of the unused confessionals into the media room. Dan Harris, Keith Tobler and Jacob Harris worked together for several weeks on the project. In February, Steve Paulson, a parishioner, crafted and put in place a new wooden wall that would resemble the architecture of the other rooms in the church. We are very grateful to Dan, Keith, Jacob and Steve for creating this needed media room.
Two new cameras, a new computer, and a laptop were also bought for the media room. The cameras and the computer allow us to have a much better quality. The laptop allows us to show the lyrics, readings and responses on the screen. A security camera and an AC unit were also installed in the media room.
In March, the media ministers moved to the new streaming room and many other parishioners joined our ministry to help the parish bring the Mass to the many people who join us in prayer from their homes. Brandon Bowman, our Communication Coordinator, does the streaming on the weekdays. We are now forming a team for Saturday morning, and we have a great group of parishioners, adult, young and children, who have taken ownership of the streaming for Sunday Mass.
Week after week, we continue to improve our media room and streaming service. We have received many notes expressing gratitude from parishioners and online visitors from other states and countries. We continue to offer the streaming service for funerals, weddings, baptisms, and the daily Mass. Other parishes have also contacted us, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, for advice on how to install their own streaming.Thank you to all who have helped St. Joseph’s to develop an important and invaluable means of communication and participation for everyone who is unable to attend Mass in person. Thank you to all those who helped build the media room, acquire our new equipment, and gave their approval for all these good things to happen.
May the Lord continue to bless our community and the Media Ministers who every week support the communication channels by which our parishioners engage with the Lord and their parish.
Fr. Robinson Ortiz
Associate Pastor
