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Technology has helped me in this time of pandemic.

My story with the quarantine in my Parish San Bartolomé

As a Sister of Providence in Arcatao, Chalatenango, El Salvador, technology has been a much-needed tool that I have had to learn in order to bring God’s message to the people of the communities during the pandemic.

It seemed that many churches had been taken by surprise by the effects of the pandemic and were forced to make a rapid digital transition due to the order to lockdown, quarantine, and physical distancing.

In these times the internet skyrocketed as a major agent of communication. The word “zoom” seemed to be the magic word of the moment. We changed the parish hall, the church, the group meetings, for “zoom” or Facebook.

In the parish, we started to broadcast the mass through my Facebook, we spent all the Holy Week of 2020 transmitting all the religious activities in this way or even through the radio Farabundo Marti. Sometimes Father Miguel Angel Vasquez would celebrate the Eucharist and I would sing, read the biblical passages and with my other hand I would broadcast the Eucharist through my cell phone.

Some time later, it was suggested that the parish have its own Facebook account for parish affairs. Although many activities were suspended at all levels, our agenda was quickly filled with virtual “meetings”. At least this is true for those of us with internet and connections, which is not the reality for everyone. This technology also facilitated the meetings and gatherings with our community of Sisters of Providence, with the pastoral teams of the parish and many other activities that taught me and gave me the strength to follow the projects of the kingdom of God which are to accompany my suffering people in this time of today. I continued without fear of being contaminated by the virus as our foundresses Emilie Gamelin, Bernarda Morin and Joseph of the Sacred Heart would have done. These great Providence women gave me the necessary strength to get used to accompanying people, even through technology.

At the Formation Center, a family made the necessary donations so that people could have access and use their social networks in their studies at the university thanks to the open Wi-Fi. All the students could come to do their homework because in their neighborhoods they do not have access to Wi-Fi, or the families are too poor to have internet access.

But I am aware that every tool in this life, without exception, is a danger if we do not know how to use it. That is where the urgency of updating ourselves as a Church in something as relevant as social networks comes in, and if we are leaders or committed parents, it is our duty to show our people how to use them in a correct and responsible way. That is why, when young people and children go to the formation center, they are given a code so that they can do only schoolwork, without entering other sites that do not help them in their formation.

I have also faced the experience and the sad reality of seeing that through the networks we children of God offend each other, we give false testimonies, criticize, defame, because there are people who do not like the homily Father delivered, because he speaks of the kingdom of God which is justice, love, and truth and many hurt when hearing the truth.

Sister Vilma Franco Calles, SP