Livestreaming Begins May 14
In a recent bulletin, we announced that the 9:30am Mass will begin to be livestreamed rather than the 5:00pm Mass being recorded and posted on YouTube. This means that those who are homebound or cannot join us in person, can worship with us live for the 9:30am Mass and the video will be available on YouTube immediately after that. You might be wondering why we are changing the approach we have been using since the spring of 2020.
There are several advantages to this move toward livestreaming. First and most obvious is that it will allow individuals and families to join the worship experience live. As one person commented, it should feel more like being there with the community offering the prayers of the Mass together. At the 9:30am Mass the Assumption choir also joins our talented cantors, enhancing the musical experience of our prayer.
Going forward, we will also have greater flexibility than today in recording other worship experiences such as funerals and weddings. Finally, there are substantial cost savings by going live. Our current approach of recording the 5:00pm Mass entails multiple people coming with equipment, and the footage must be edited and posted. The new approach will cost substantially less. We are happy that our current videographer, Northern Lights Video, will continue to help us deliver a quality virtual experience.
This change has been planned for a long time, but we waited until our equipment and new systems were in place. We have high-definition cameras, but viewers might notice slight changes in the video, lighting, and sound, but again, it should feel more like you are there for our prayer. It also means a change for those earlier virtual Mass-goers since the livestreaming will begin at 9:30am. We are hoping this is not too disruptive for people. As we weighed all the options, this change made sense.
The new livestream option will begin at 9:30am on Sunday, May 14. There will continue to be a link on our website to access the Mass or you can still go directly to YouTube on your TV, tablet and phone. If you have any questions about our new virtual Mass experience, please feel free to contact the parish office. We are very happy that an increasing number can rejoin the Mass in person, but we are also very happy to stay connected to those who join us virtually.
God bless you and your family.
-Fr. Paul Treacy