It is everyone’s reality at this point: the pandemic has turned all our habits upside down! In my parish, Mass is celebrated one day virtually, next day in-person; now with 250 participants, then with 10 or 25; in several rooms, then in one room... Trying to keep abreast of all these changes is almost like trying to keep up with the weather! And then we are urged to do things differently - be creative – which is not always easy…

A reflection by Denis Bérubé, Assistant to the Director of the Office for Faith Education

Until recently, the Office for Faith Education team would arrange each spring for young confirmands and their parents to visit Mary Queen of the World Cathedral for a meeting with Archbishop Christian Lépine.  These visits happened over a four-day period and involved almost 1,000 people per day.  What are you supposed to do when the number of people allowed in the Cathedral must not exceed 10?  Hold the event on a super mega Zoom? Cancel the whole thing and ask the Holy Spirit to move as it will, as long as we respect the sanitary regulations?

I can't remember now which member of our team came up with the idea of a video... I remember we took the time to consult with the pastoral workers on the different avenues. I remember that we took the time to discuss the various possibilities with the pastoral workers. And then we embarked on this ‘crazy adventure,’ even though we knew nothing about making a video.  Nevertheless, we were determined to support the parishes in their efforts to prepare youngsters for the sacrament of Confirmation and we were concerned about all the families who had been working towards this for a very long time.  

With the Archbishop's approval, we turned to valued partner Ms. Marinella Montanari, Executive Director of Jobel Art for Earth, the Canadian affiliate of Jobel: an international arts organization whose mission is to inspire, inform and motivate action through the arts and new technologies. For Jobel, the heritage of faith and spirituality has always been a central pillar of research and creation.

Within our little team, the ideas just flowed: illustrating the gifts of the spirit through the historical figures depicted in the paintings in the Cathedral, inviting young people to a conversation with the Archbishop, presenting the testimony of a vocation, exploring the meaning of Confirmation, finding a role for the Holy Spirit in the form of a moving veil, using a drone to get some striking pictures of the Cathedral, etc.  We couldn't do everything.  We had to be selective, especially as we did not have much time; the parishes expected results by the end of April 2021.
Just producing this idea of a video represented an amount of work that we hadn’t counted on. It had to be a video in both languages. We needed young people to be the Confirmation candidates, actors to play the historical characters, costumes, a script that made sense, a videographer to film it and an expert to edit the video. So we turned to our pastoral workers, our volunteers, the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, and the list goes on…

How were we going to carry out this project without interfering with the regular ongoing activities in the Cathedral?  Not to mention the sanitary measures required during filming: no more than six people on the set, everyone physically distancing and masks, plus all the essential paperwork that had to be completed.  The shoot itself - thanks to Jobel’s collaboration with videographer Phan Hoi Do and his assistant Giordano D’Alonzo - was worthy of the TV show District 31: actors showed up to play their parts without ever having met each other and not knowing the whole storyline.  What was the finished product going to look like?  

With God’s help, the video has now been uploaded.  We were able to get creative.  We were able to overcome all obstacles, even including our own fears. With our parishes, and the young people and their families in mind, we began all our meetings of discussion and preparation with a prayer in which we invited the Lord into our midst to help us in this ‘crazy adventure’...
... and wherever two or three are gathered in His name…