In pre-pandemic days, the Mount Prospect Interfaith Council gathered once a month (September through May) in person to discuss issues of common interest. But the COVID-19 pandemic made those types of gatherings impossible, at first, and then simply questionable, so the group continued to meet via an online meeting forum for months after most (if not all) participants had received their two inoculations.
In October 2021 representatives of the Mount Prospect Historical Society met with the group to get their perspectives on this overwhelmingly difficult time and how it had affected their congregations and those to whom they ministered.
Historical Society representatives asked a series of questions and sought feedback from the group.
Did you find members of your congregations having crises of faith during the pandemic? If so, how did you handle that?
“Our small church across the street from Randhurst is associated with another congregation in New York so when the pandemic began, we pivoted to Zoom gatherings and were able to worship with the group in New York. So, in one way the world contracted because we were all in our homes, but in another way it expanded since we were able to interact with the group in New York.” – Marguerite O’Connor, Rissho Kosei-Kai Buddhist congregation
“I was not aware of any crises of faith within my congregation. There were different opinions on masks and shots, though, and I was very happy to see my members respect each other’s opinions even when they didn’t agree.” – Russ Bechtold, Northwest Assembly of God
“St. Raymond’s Catholic Church never truly closed, even though we were not able to gather together for worship. Ministers from St. Raymond’s went out from the church itself to minister to members. For instance, we had very small, 10-person funerals because that was all that was permitted. And I did a lot of funerals. At one point I did 23 interments in a nine-day period of time.” – John Lorbach, deacon, St. Raymond Catholic Church
“Switching to Zoom helped membership grow because it made worship more accessible to interested people. They also sent personal notes to members and non-members in need of support. She noted that the pandemic was “a blessing of a new kind.” – Mary Grace Crowley-Koch, a Roman Catholic Womanpriest, Spirit of the Living God congregation. There are only 200 such female ministers worldwide at this time.
“The Pandemic, especially in the early months, was hard on elderly homebound Mount Prospect residents. Those who were not able to participate online felt disconnected.” – Ginny Thomas, Village of Mount Prospect social worker
Do you think that the COVID-10 pandemic resulted in fewer or more members seeking God? Were people seeking comfort from religion or falling away because they couldn’t gather in person?
“The pandemic actually allowed us to connect better with some new people and also with homebound former members like several living at Luther Village in Arlington Heights. We learned that several would gather to watch the services together. We are also reconnected with former members who had moved away from Mount Prospect. On the other end of the spectrum, however, there were some members who felt that they had to step back from the church.” – Christie Webb, St. Mark Lutheran Church
“We had some parishioners who reached out to us and said that they needed to find God. We had others who backed away from church. I am also active in a prayer network and through that I had many people who said that they were seeking God in the midst of the chaos in the world and many who thanked me and others for being there for them.” – John Lorbach, St. Raymond Catholic Church
“I saw an increase in people’s need for community during this time so I have had to thank God for modern technology which kept people together and engaged during this terrible time. What I saw was a crisis of community, not a crisis of God.” – Norm Kurtz, Jewish community
“I dealt with so much grieving on every level and we used Zoom to support people through their grieving process.” – Mary Grace Crowley Koch, Spirit of the Living God congregation
“In our community, which has Methodist roots, we were able to experience a different level of connection through technology during the pandemic. We found that we were able to cultivate a sense of community on our computer screens and that was huge. During this time of uncertainty we had to use computers to build our sense of community and alleviate our fears so we spent a lot of time applying for and receiving grants to provide technology to low-income families like computer and Wi-Fi.” – Katherine Inserra, Kids Above All
Looking back, how would you characterize this period of time for those who follow us?
“It will be interesting in the future to see how children who experienced this time will talk about it and what changes we have endured will become permanent.” – Russ Bechtold, Northwest Assembly of God
“My grandson celebrated his first birthday during this time, and we weren’t able to be there because they live in Philadelphia. Instead, we celebrated virtually on Zoom. When he gets older, it will be interesting to show him the photos and tell him how we had to celebrate his first birthday!” – Mary Grace Crowley-Koch, Spirit of the Living God congregation
“I never realized when I was a child how the stories my grandparents told me of their younger lives would become so critical to me – the suffering they went through thanks to poverty, addiction, losses during childbirth and so forth. Reflecting on those stories during this time expanded my perspective. Those stories told me the importance of resilience, faith and stepping up for one another. We all need to err on the side of shared compassion. We cannot dismiss the seriousness of COVID and the racial hatred we saw these past few years, but we need to make sure that the stories we tell of this time are hopeful stories, not despairing ones.” – Katherine Inserra, Kids Above All
“This time of COVID will be a significant marker in history. There have been many shifts – large and small. For instance, my sister who has lived out of state for 40 years chose to move back here. That was one of the small shifts. At the Jewish cemetery where I work we have had more requests from people to videotape services for those who weren’t able to attend in person and then to leave the ceremony videos up on our website longer. I believe that moving forward we will continue to offer videotaped services for those who find it too expensive or difficult to travel to a service.” – Marguerite O’Connor, Rissho Kosei-Kai Buddhist congregation
“We saw lots of suicides and accidental drug overdoses among young people during COVID. We also saw many mental health problems, particularly among young people. I thank God for the opportunity to gather on Zoom. I reflected on this in several articles that I write for a Catholic Fraternal Society magazine and stated how important it is to help and support each other however we can.” – John Lorbach, deacon – St. Raymond Catholic Church
“Though Zoom gatherings I found many people across the country who have been looking for feminine-directed Catholic liturgies and found us online during the pandemic. I found myself sending notes, cards and emails of comfort to many people who were suffering.” – Mary Grace Crowley-Koch, Spirit of the Living God congregation
“I have a lot of clients who are senior citizens and they were struggling. They couldn’t have visitors and they couldn’t join in virtually because they didn’t have or couldn’t handle the technology and, as a result, they felt disconnected from their faith.” – Ginny Thomas, Village of Mount Prospect social worker
“The hardest part was the fact that people without technical abilities were unable to connect with other people. So, we started mail and phone outreach at St. Mark’s; did call trees; and even did some drive-in worship services. It was amazing how much God showed up in our parking lot! The hardest part, as far as I was concerned, was not being able to celebrate people’s lives at funerals and memorial services.” – Christie Webb, St. Mark Lutheran Church
“I will never forget how the COVID pandemic showed everyone the importance of low-paying jobs. We found out that essential workers are not necessarily the lawyers and other highly paid people. They are the doctors, pharmacists and people stocking the grocery store shelves. I am 41 years old and I have never been through a time when I was afraid to leave my house and when people were hoarding food and toilet paper. This was not an incident isolated to Mount Prospect. The whole world has been traumatized and it has been so big and overwhelming that I believe the experience will stay with everyone as long as they live.” – Ginny Thomas, Village of Mount Prospect social worker
Did you experience different responses from different demographic groups?
“We received over 3,000 hand-made masks from various groups – mainly women’s groups – around the area. There was a Veterans group in Huntley, however, that also made masks and most of them were men.” – Katherine Inserra – Kids Above All
“I found that the response depended upon where people were in their lives. Older adults were seeing much more of their spouse than normal and that caused some struggles. Those who lived alone were very lonely. Young families were struggling and overwhelmed because they were trying to manage working and having their children home instead of in school. They missed having ‘alone time.’ Most of the children were resilient. They loved being home. Many didn’t attend religious services because they simply couldn’t face getting on another Zoom.” – Christie Webb, St. Mark Lutheran Church
“The Wise Up North Shore Village Networking group held weekly Happy Hours; made birthday phone calls; sold Ruth Bader Ginsburg masks for $15 each; and helped each other over Zoom. The way we were able to function over Zoom showed how we can include people in the future who are afraid to drive at night or in bad weather. One guy told us that he had his best year of sales ever because he didn’t have to waste time driving from place to place. He ended up in the top ten percent of his company’s sales team.” – Marguerite O’Connor, Rissho Kosei-Kai Buddhist congregation
“I spent three months working from home and doing financial assessments for people who were seeking help to pay their rent. It was gut wrenching. I heard from people who are immune-compromised and couldn’t go to work, even though they were the family’s breadwinner. Not everyone saw that side of the pandemic. Every day I talked to people who had lost their jobs and were very emotional because they were afraid to go to work. They had never before been in this position and they felt that their whole world had closed down.” – Ginny Thomas, Village of Mount Prospect social worker