Our Lady of Guadalupe Hermosa Beach preaches, teaches sheltered at home online
Veronica Webb streams Sunday Mass said by Our Lady of Guadalupe pastor Father Paul Gawlowski. Photo by JP Cordero
Last Sunday’s first reading for the fifth Sunday in Lent was from the prophet Ezekiel: “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.”
Sunday’s second reading was John’s Gospel about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Pastor Paul Gawlowski delivered the readings from the altar pulpit, as he does every Sunday, with notable enthusiasm, as if just discovering the readings, though this is his 20th Lenten season since becoming a priest. The former aerospace engineer was ordained a Franscian friar in 1999, at age 40.
“Ezekiel calls for living a life of prayer for those who are suffering,” he said.
Lazarus’ rise from the dead, he explained, is evidence of God’s power over death.
Lent is a time of sacrifice, in preparation for Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. But no one listening to Fr. Paul preach to his Hermosa Beach parish could miss the timeliness of the readings.
“We live in extraordinary times, and we cannot help but wonder why God is allowing this to happen,” said, addressing head on the question fundamental to all religions. He posited a few monotheistic possibilities: “Trial? Punishment?” And even a panthiestic one: “Neglecting to care for Mother Earth?”
“Why? I don’t pretend to know. ‘I won’t claim to see what I cannot see,’” he said, deftly sidestepping the irksome why question by alluding to Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees in John’s Gospel about the blind man. “Now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
“But I do know what our response should be,” Fr. Paul said. “And that is to embrace the suffering and serve one another as we pray in these difficult times for a new life to come.”
Fr. Paul then offered a third reading, which is not part of the traditional Lenten liturgy. It is from the Book of Songs “by my favorite song writer, Jackson Brown,” he said. The title, “Standing in the Breach,” referred back to the first reading of Ezekiel.
And though the earth may tremble and our foundations crack
We will all assemble and we will build them back
And rush to save the lives remaining still within our reach
And try to put our world together standing in the breach
Father Paul ended his sermon by suggesting to his parishioners a simultaneously practical and spiritual way to protect themselves against the coronavirus.
“Today is my birthday. You can sing happy birthday to me as you wash your hands. Or better, say the ‘Our Father.’ It takes the same amount of time.”
Like other churches throughout California, Our Lady of Guadalupe is closed for public worship and even for private prayer visits. The only people present at Sunday’s Mass were music director Bobbi-Lynn Lambert, who played the piano and sang and parishioners Veronica Webb and her aunt and uncle Miguel and Christine Ruiloba. The parish’s 1,300 families were invited to participate in the Mass over Facebook. Webb used her iPhone to edit video from two other iPhones and a tablet, giving the stream the production values of a three camera studio production.
In addition to Mass, Our Lady of Guadalupe is streaming the Lenten season Stations of the Cross, and Rosary and Divine Mercy services. Other church ministries, from spiritual guidance to delivering groceries and phoning every parishioner over 60 are being coordinated by call forwarding to staff working from home.
Our Lady of Guadalupe sixth graders meet on Zoom with language arts teacher Erika Melendez. Photo by Erika Melendez
Teacher appreciation
On Monday, March 17, Our Lady of Guadalupe school closed to deter the spread of the novel coronavirus. On The following day, classroom instruction shifted to Google Classroom and Zoom for its grammar school students and ClassDojo for its preschoolers.
“I’ve been amazed at how adaptable the teachers and students have been. They pivoted on a dime to embrace this new style of learning,” Principal April Beuder said.
“Parents are expressing a newfound appreciation for our teachers,” she added. Part of the reason, she explained, is the school encourages parents to participate in their kids’ online instruction.
Vice Principal Kathe Barnes offers technical support and the school provides ChromeBooks and MacBooks to students who don’t have computers at home
Still, Beuder is apprehensive about the long term consequences. “Distance learning is not a substitute for a teacher kneeling beside your desk to help,” she said.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Principal April Beueder sits outside her office, overlooking an epty school yard. Photo
Erika Melendez is both a teacher and a mom at Our Lady of Guadalupe. She teaches language arts (reading, writing, and grammar) to fifth and sixth graders and has an OLG first grader and a preschooler.
Melendez posts assignments and references material on Google Classroom and meets with students on Zoom.
“My students were already using Google Classroom. The biggest adjustment has been the lack of person to person interaction. Tasks that kids can do easily at home sometimes overwhelm them online. That’s why we Zoom every day. Plus, kids miss the interaction with their friends and their teachers,’ Melendez said.
“The sixth graders all want to come back to school. I’ve asked them, Then why are you so excited when summer vacation starts? They say, Because we know when it will end. We don’t know when this will end.”
For safety reasons, Melendez said, a parent or a second staff member must be present in all zoom classes.
Our Lady of Guadalupe first grader Mason Melendez shows his favorite dinosaur to his first grad teacher Glenn Finton. Photo by Erika Melendez
In her role as mom, Melendez set up three computers on her dining room table. One is for the first grader Mason, one is for the preschooler Maddison and the third is for one-year-old Mateo.
“Mateo likes to draw and sing along with the ClassDojo lessons,” Melendez said.
Because first graders and preschoolers lack the dexterity to input assignments on the computer, they work with paper and pen and hold their work up to the screen for their teachers to see. Or parents photograph the work and email it to the teacher.
Last week Mason sent his teacher Ms. Finton a photograph of his favorite dinosaur.
“Teachers like to see what kids do outside of class work. It makes us and the kids feel good,” Melendez said. ER