Rev. Steven Paulikas has led the congregation at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Brooklyn for almost nine years.
Photo: Rev. Spencer CantrellOn a typical Sunday morning, Rev. Steven Paulikas stands on the front steps of the Brooklyn church he has been leading for almost nine years, shaking hands and hugging congregants.
In the age of coronavirus, however, this practice—like many others—has been turned inside out.
Recently, the 41-year-old rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church has stood alone on those steps, his gaze occupied by the crisis enveloping New York City. A refrigerated white semi-truck serving as a temporary morgue has been set up across the street by neighboring NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
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“The morgue truck is the daily shadow of death cast on to the church,” Father Paulikas said, echoing the sentiments of Psalm 23. He frequently prays for the deceased, their loved ones and the health-care workers serving on the front lines, some of whom are members of his parish. Those prayers are often said as sirens blare in the background.
On Sunday, Father Paulikas will celebrate Easter at the end of an unusual Holy Week. The faithful are sheltering in place, so he plans to preside over Mass in an empty church. The liturgy and sermon will be delivered into the lens of an iPhone 11 mounted on a tripod that assistant priest Rev. Spencer Cantrell borrowed from his roommate.
Father Paulikas and Father Cantrell now routinely follow up their online services by walking to the church’s garden. There, sitting 6 feet apart and wearing masks, they are available to speak with anyone who wants prayer or conversation at a safe distance.
Father Paulikas said he can see the irony in the digital transformation of a 152-year-old church led by a rector who isn’t tech-savvy. For him, the “great cloud of witness” described in Hebrews has new meaning since the church has become reliant on “cloud” technology.
The dependence extends beyond broadcasting a Sunday service at 10 a.m. on Facebook Live. On Maundy Thursday, which commemorates Jesus Christ’s Last Supper, congregants were encouraged to have an “agape meal” at home.
Father Paulikas conducted morning prayers with parishioners through a Zoom call on Thursday.
Photo: The Wall Street JournalFather Paulikas’s guidance, emailed to parishioners and posted on All Saints’ website, called for a simple meal with bread and wine. Families gathered at their tables at 6 p.m. Thursday and, if able, shared the meal virtually with others on FaceTime, Zoom or conference call.
He had mailed parishioners a booklet that included blessings for the meal and readings from Scripture. Members could also wash the feet of others at home, re-creating the church ceremony that is typical of traditional Maundy Thursday services.
Father Paulikas’s Lenten teaching series, Tuesday morning Bible study and Sunday evening prayer service also moved online. During the Zoom Lenten sessions, he suggested designating a place in the home for worship and quiet reflection, and answered questions in real-time on the platform.
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He has encouraged parishioners to dress up as they normally would for church on Easter Sunday, make their favorite Easter meal, and call friends and family. The aim is to restore a bit of the routine that existed before March 13, when the Episcopal bishop of Long Island said that churches in the diocese would be closed for public worship.
On a typical Sunday before the pandemic, All Saints’ morning and evening services combined would draw about 130 worshipers. Coffee and cookies would be served after the morning service, followed by a homemade brunch—typically Caribbean food such as rice and peas, oxtail and jerk chicken—in the Park Slope church’s undercroft. As adult members chatted, children would be running around cookies in hand.
Father Paulikas has temporarily moved his office from the church building to a desk in his next-door residence. He often works through a phone list of the elderly and most-vulnerable members of his congregation, calling them to make sure they feel connected.
While he doesn’t know of any church member to have succumbed to the coronavirus, a parishioner’s relative recently died from the infection. Father Paulikas called the parishioner to express his condolences but says he longs to comfort the member in-person when it’s safe to do so.
Father Paulikas, a priest for 12 years, called the virtual church “completely bizarre,” but he is adapting. “Just because the building is closed, it doesn’t mean the church is closed,” he said.
Father Paulikas, accompanied by assistant priest Spencer Cantrell, conducted Mass on Facebook Live on Sunday.
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Write to Veronica Dagher at veronica.dagher@wsj.com
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