Across the archdiocese, many parishes and schools have taken up the practice of phone chains. These seek to ensure that everyone in a given parish or education program hear directly from the parish and allow their needs to be heard. In a time of social isolation, these can be a great source of comfort for those who have no one else to check in on them.
Sister Nathalie Meyer, OP, of the archdiocese’s Office of Catholic Education and Formation, emailed principals and Coordinators of Religious Education at all archdiocesan schools encouraging them to adopt a phone chain to contact their school families.
Cathy Whitlock, Coordinator of Religious Education at St. David’s parish in Arnold, took up the charge in calling families enrolled in the school’s PSR program.
Cathy made calls to all 35 families, as well as the program’s handful of catechists, on Palm Sunday after watching a live stream of the Mass. At her husband’s suggestion, she even offered for families to pray with her and to share prayer intentions, and thus she dubbed the project “prayer calls.”
“Each one of us has a little gift to share, and mine is very small and can be done at my own computer,” she reflected on the experience.
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