Parking lot Mass provides safe worship space while keeping parishioners united in faith

Friday, Aug. 14, 2020

MIDVALE — As with many parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Midvale has been finding creative ways to welcome their parishioners while maintaining the safety restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On July 25, dozens of parishioners gathered for a parking lot Mass, celebrated by Fr. Jose Barrera, the parish administrator, who was armed with a microphone and several speakers so that he could be heard by those sitting in their cars or on folding chairs nearby.

To take advantage of the summer weather, the regularly scheduled Saturday Spanish Mass was moved from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Rather than gathering in the church or the parish’s social hall, parishioners assembled in the parking lot.

“It was very impressive to see many of the families that we haven’t seen since the pandemic broke loose. ... We also saw new families,” Fr. Barrera said.

Because of the social distancing restrictions imposed by local health authorities, the parish has limited the number of people who can attend Mass inside the building. Those who wish to attend Mass must sign up; once the limit is reached, no others may join.

Some of parish families couldn’t register for Mass, “or follow all the protocols, or they simply didn’t feel comfortable being inside the church, so they didn’t come,” said Fr. Barrera, who has been transmitting the Masses through Facebook Live. 

Still, he wanted another way to reach his parishioners. The idea for the parking lot Mass came about as a way “to give more opportunity to the families to attend Mass,” Fr. Barrera said.

After seeing the response to the first parking lot Mass, Fr. Barrera has decided to continue to celebrate the vigil Mass in Spanish in the parking lot, as long as weather permits.

The success of the Mass also has encouraged him to restart the First Friday nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Before the pandemic, this was held in the church, beginning at 6 p.m. on the first Friday of the month, and continuing to 6 a.m. on Saturday. 

When the social distancing requirements were enforced, the in-person celebration was canceled, and the observance was transmitted through Facebook Live from 6 p.m. to midnight. 

“People in their houses got together and prayed,” Fr. Barrera.

But, seeing the response to the parking lot Mass, “we decided that this also was going to be celebrated in the parking lot,” he said.

On Aug. 7, the first outside Adoration took place, with dozens of people in attendance.

“We designed a very pretty altar, and all the brothers and sisters are very happy,” Fr. Barrera said. “They have told me how much they missed this; since March, we haven’t have this type of Adoration in person.”

Seeing the response from his parishioners has filled him with joy, he said.

“I feel and felt that I had the commitment to give them a pastoral response, because now more than ever we need to be closer to God,” he said. 

Having Mass and Adoration in the parking lot “is another way for the Church to get out and encounter our brothers and sisters, and remind all that God’s mercy has no limit,” said Fr. Barrera, adding that pastors “have the responsibility to look for ways that through this pandemic people don’t feel separated from the Church.”

Fr. Barrera invites all of his parishioners to bring a chair and rejoin in the Saturday Mass in person.

“Some people might say that people do not want to go to the church, but I feel that it’s not that; ... they are just following the new restrictions or protecting their families,” he said. “When we offer other alternatives, they come back.”