Father James Grogan |  Guest Contributor

The meteorologists called it “Jonas,” but by any name, the blizzard of January 2016 was an event of significant proportions.

Snow accumulation found its mark on record-keeping charts, New Jersey and surrounding states had declared “states of emergency,” and shore communities within the Diocese of Trenton were haunted by flood predictions and beach erosions that recalled for many the devastation of Sandy. The storm was, in a word, massive.

In some ways, the timing was good for business owners and schools, in that productivity was not significantly impacted with the brunt of the storm falling on the weekend.

For churches, however, the timing couldn’t have been worse; how were the faithful to “remember to keep holy the Lord’s day”?

At Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Moorestown, we immediately shared the message from Bishop O’Connell alerting parishioners that for this weekend, in light of the powerful and dangerous storm, the obligation for Sunday worship was dispensed.

At the same time and within the same announcement message, we were able to advise our parishioners that they would be welcome to participate in the two Masses we expected to celebrate on Sunday, at 10:30 a.m. and at noon, through our parish web-site.

Just in the past few weeks, OLGC had completed our conversion to new software and capability to livestream our

liturgies online for those who were unable to gather around the altar together.

As a parish community, we minister to six long-term assisted living and rehabilitation facilities. Many of the residents are unable to get out to Mass due to physical limitations and poor health; serving these faithful includes both the distribution of Holy Communion through many dedicated Extraordinary Ministers, along with the option to view their own parish Mass through their computer.

In the face of the blizzard, we knew that the same technology could be extended to our regular parishioners who were now, suddenly, unable to get out of their driveways. We were delighted to find from the viewing reports that more than 450 people logged in to our live-stream service, far more than previous weekend viewing statistics.

The timing of our parish upgrade could not have been better with the timing of the blizzard of 2016, with rapid implementation of the service following the recent Diocese of Trenton Digital Communications and Evangelization day, held last Dec. 5.

We were able to utilize existing camera and computer systems, thanks to our parish marketing director Michelle Molz’ efforts to coordinate the upgrade with our vendor.

Having spent three decades in the crisis management business, one valuable lesson is to depend on everyday technology and procedures whenever you can in a crisis, when doing “special” things often leads to disappointing results.

For Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, livestreaming has been developed over a few years, and we count on this simply as one of our many parish ministries. The capability is used by those confined to their care facilities, to remote family and friends during weddings and funerals, and now, without any additional effort, by hundreds of snow-bound parishioners.

We look forward to seeing parishioners each week in the pews, and are grateful for our frequent standing-room-only attendance. At the same time, we count our blessings in the wake of this storm, as we were able to tell all who asked both that the Bishop had relaxed their obligation this weekend, but that we were able to offer an alternate experience to participate in hearing the Word of God, and celebrating the Eucharist.

May God’s gifts of family, friends and yes, technology, continue to enrich our lives.

Father James Grogan is parochial vicar of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Moorestown.