The pandemic means friend of Anna Chaplaincy, the Chaplain to seniors in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Maria Nightingale, is adapting her work by taking to YouTube. Maria writes:
Since the pandemic started, I have been creating worship videos with accompanying text versions for the retirement and long-term care homes that I usually serve in person. They are posted to my YouTube channel under the title 'Prayers in Exile' (and yes, my kids have been teasing me about becoming a 'YouTuber').
As in the UK, the care homes in Canada have been particularly hard hit with Covid-19, and in our area they have not allowed any visitors, including family, since mid-March. I have been hearing lately from some of the parishioners who are at retirement homes that there is a little more freedom to move around inside the building, and some homes are allowing physically distanced visits with family now.
I've also put together 'prayer care' packages at Holy Week/Easter and Pentecost, which have been delivered to our older adult parishioners who haven't been connecting online with us, and I'm putting one together for the summer months that I'm calling '(Anything But) Ordinary Time'. The packages include a booklet of prayers, scripture, and short reflections based on the lectionary readings for the season, some sort of sweet treat, and various other small items meant to bring comfort and joy.'
We first met Maria when she came over from Canada to Derbyshire to enrol on the first week-long certificate course we ran at Cliff College in Ministry among Older People, in 2018. We wish her well as she adapts to these new circumstances in such creative ways.
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