One thing I’ve particularly missed is praying as a community. However, I have found ways to adapt communal prayer to a variety of virtual formats. While video conferencing may seem like the most obvious tool for maintaining virtual connection, it’s simply not something everyone has access to, or the skills to use. However, who said that virtual connection needs to be high-tech?
Prior to COVID-19, I would regularly pray the rosary with older parishioners after weekday Masses. As I explored ways of maintaining connections during the pandemic, I wanted to ensure that efforts to connect virtually with parishioners were inclusive, especially for people who don’t have access to computers or internet.
We continued our regular rosaries by telephone with a ‘prayer partner’. I believe it’s had a mutual benefit of continuing communal prayer for both of us and has also got me praying the rosary more regularly. All that’s required to create an accessible virtual experience in this instance is the humble telephone. It’s a very simple solution for one-on-one conversations where barriers to accessing modern technology generally aren’t present.
Whenever there is a special prayer that we’d like to pray with the Rosary (including the COVID-19 Prayer for Victorians I composed), I have printed them out and delivered them to my prayer partner’s letterbox. My prayer partner has also dropped off prayer cards to me. It means we both have the prayers in front of us while we’re praying the rosary.
I had a conversation with my prayer partner about the telephone rosary from her perspective and these are some of the benefits she mentions:
• It gives her a purpose, she can get up in the morning and share the rosary with me.
• It means she’s not praying on her own. “It’s very important to be able to pray with somebody”.
• She feels uplifted afterwards.
As I have mentioned before, as an autistic individual, I have struggled with my routine being upended with COVID-19. So for me, the benefit of praying the Rosary together is that it is both a calming meditation and it provides a sense of routine. There have been days that I have been particularly overwhelmed where I haven’t got around to praying the rosary with my prayer partner (I thank her for being very understanding), but I appreciate this time of live communal prayer that we’re actively participating in together. As a 30-year old, I’ve felt enriched by this amazing opportunity to foster intergenerational relationships within our Church.
Some other ways of maintaining virtual connections using low-tech means could include:
• Sending letters to each other.
• Printing off articles found on the internet that would interest the other people and posting either by snail mail, or placing the article in the letterbox.
• Letting people who may not have access to live-streamed Masses know of any masses being broadcast on television. On Sundays at 6 am, there is Mass for You at Home broadcast on WIN TV (channel 10 in Melbourne).
• Ringing people regularly by telephone.
• Offering to drop off a meal or do shopping for them.
I’ll mention that I have not done all of the above. However, these are ideas on how we don’t always need video conferencing or other modern technologies to virtually connect with others. I believe in many cases, low-tech methods of connecting are more accessible than high-tech means. We need to ensure that people for whom access to technology is a barrier, are not left behind when it comes to maintaining virtual connections.
In my next article, I intend to talk about both the benefits and challenges of video conference and provide ideas to make video conferencing a more accessible experience.
I have written other articles on navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, including how I’ve managed the change of routine and the accessibility of live-streamed and broadcast Masses, along with the COVID-19 Prayer for Victorians. If you’d like a copy sent to you by email or post, please contact me (Daniel Giles) on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0439 562 286.
Other Perspectives
If you’d like to offer another perspective on disability inclusion in a time of pandemic, or would like to share your story in our regular disability columns, contact Daniel Giles via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0439 562 286.
