Religion and technology played a big part in observances on Sunday for a number of local churches.
It was something new for Father Bob Schrader, who has been a priest in the Rochester Catholic Diocese for many years.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the diocese is not allowing Mass to be held where parishioners can attend in person. But Bishop Salvatore Matano took part in alive-streamed Masson Sunday, and at Peace of Christ Parish, Father Schrader pre-taped Mass earlier this week and then put it on the church’s Facebook page.
“And I understand we’ve got up to 500 hits on the Mass on one day, so it’s obviously meeting some need out there, so I’m glad that that’s the case,” Schrader said.
And Schrader realizes a lot of his parishioners need to hear from him, even if it’s in a virtual sense, during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re not alone in all this, we’re here with one another; God hasn’t gone anywhere, been there, done that, with past plagues that we’ve got through. So we’re doing the best we can and hopefully we get better each day as we do it,” Schrader explained.
Schrader says he’s still wrestling with the technology a bit, but expects that to improve along the way. As the priest puts, “nothing speeds up a learning curve, like a pandemic,” Schrader said.
