Live streaming
CORONAVIRUS restrictions may have barred faithful from Churches but popular Ingham priest Fr Damian Mcgrath has gained more followers by going online during the COVID pandemic.
Fr Damian has continued to offer daily Masses live streamed over Facebook during the past three months, connecting to hundreds of people each day throughout the lockdown.
The parish priest also offered live streaming for funerals that were being conducted at St Patrick’s Church in Ingham.
Not only has his Facebook page doubled in numbers but hundreds of people are listening to his live-streamed Masses each day.
Fr Damian said online numbers had grown significantly and had become an important way of staying in touch with his community.
“As soon as our Churches were closed we started live streaming services that week,” he said.
“Addressing people through the camera took a bit of getting used to but we were getting feedback from day one.
“We have never been thanked so much by people. The level of gratitude expressed to us has been extraordinary.”
Fr Damian said many people were looking for a message of hope during this time of isolation.
“It gave them a sense of normality in the midst of uncertainty,” he said.
“The ability to connect with a familiar face was important.
“If everything else you’re seeing is the news reports on COVID, to have something every day that is familiar and normal – that seemed to matter to people.”
He said that even people who would not have participated in religious services on a weekly basis in the past, were viewing his online Masses.
“We had a level of connection to the people that has kept us with a sense of community despite the pandemic,” he said.
“I think in other towns and cities, that sense of community may have been a bit lost over the past three months but if anything I think we are actually stronger as a community.
“A lot of our young parents are watching it at 10pm at night when they can finally sit down for some me and Jesus time.”
Fr Damian said live streaming allowed him to connect to people in very real ways.
“It had never crossed my mind to consider live streaming until we were forced to,” he said.
“We set up a separate page for live streaming. We have become more active in offering encouragement and inspiration daily. We reached out to people, we increased the quality and quantity of inspiration and we upped our communication game in numerous ways.”
At the start of the pandemic Fr Damian applied for a grant to permanently install a streaming system at his Church after the success of his online services during the shutdown.
His application has been successful and he has been granted $25,950 in funding to assist in the delivery of the St Patrick’s Live Streaming Project.
The grant is jointly funded under the Commonwealth/ State Disaster Recovery Funding to implement projects aimed at driving recovery and building resilience.
Fr Damian said the grant would allow him to continue to live stream Masses and funerals whenever the community was separated by floodwaters.
“This is to install permanent equipment for live streaming,” he said.
“We are a community that often suffers from floods and we need to be able to connect during this period. That’s the basis for the grant, giving us the ability to stay connected.”