One year later: A thank you and an invitation

It was a year ago this week that my wife and I climbed on Boston's Green Line trolley for the last time, heading home after attending Mass in person for the last time. We'll soon receive our second vaccine at Fenway Park, so we count ourselves blessed in a year that has afflicted so many with so much.

At NCR, now is a time to express our gratitude to readers who've supported us throughout the pandemic by becoming members and contributing. We're also grateful for $512,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program and $25,000 from the Leavey Foundation to help support our coronavirus coverage. 

Speaking of that coverage, don't miss this story, a comprehensive look at the impact of the virus on Catholic school enrollment. You can read all of our "Coronavirus: One Year Later" coverage here at NCRonline.org and here at Global Sisters Report. 

The NCR staff is also due big thanks for good work under challenging conditions. Whether that work involves showing up, masked and distanced, to perform essential tasks in the Kansas City office, juggling work and other responsibilities at home or following Pope Francis around Iraq, my colleagues have provided extraordinary service to all of us.

As our "One Year Later" stories report, it's been a time of loss mixed with renewal for many Catholics, some of them gathering on Sundays in a parking lot, others in a park. At our parish in Boston, our spiritual lives have been enriched by a family liturgy of the word led by women and children on Zoom, and a Wednesday evening prayer service (also Zoomed) led by such parish organizations as the Care for our Common Home committee, the LGBTQ group and the Catholics Struggling to Stay Catholic crew. 

As much as we long for a return of the parish gatherings that were possible before, we need to do everything we can to hang onto the new forms of worship the pandemic has led us to.

We hope you'll tell us what your worship has been like during this time by responding to this survey. 

Finally, if you'd like to share the stories of friends and family who have passed away from the coronavirus, email me a link to their obituary at bmitchell@ncronline.org. We'll post it to the NCR website and join you in remembering their lives well lived.