Way up on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, almost 400km from the Pastoral Centre, is an ecosystem of mountains and forests making their way down to the ocean. A place where the winds blow colder, the rain comes down harder, and cougars, bears, eagles and even whales live in close proximity to their human neighbours. Seems like a good environment for a church named after a Franciscan, St. Bonaventure.
“In some ways, up here, quarantine was easy”, says Greg and Kathy Clarke. Greg is the Chair of the Parish Pastoral Council for St. Bonaventure Church in Port Hardy. “We would go for walks and not pass anyone.”
“People often think that Campbell River is the top of Vancouver Island,” Greg chuckles. “In fact, there is another 250km of road going further north through Port McNeil and Port Hardy, all the way to Port Alice.” Together with Alert Bay, these four North Island Catholic Parish Communities make up what is known as the NICPC.
Port Hardy and the NICPC parishes are under the care of “an Administrator” in diocesan parlance. This means that they do not have their own resident priest. Instead, a priest from another community visits to celebrate Mass and the sacraments. Fr. Krystian Golisz SDS, from Campbell River currently celebrates Mass once per month in Port Hardy. When in town, he stays at the back of St. Bonaventure, where there is a small bedroom and a little kitchen. Before the pandemic, Fr. Krys would go to Port Alice first on a Saturday and then return to spend two nights at St. Bonaventure. On the Sunday, he would celebrate Mass in Port Hardy, Port McNeil, and Alert Bay. He would then take care of the parishioners’ needs and visit the sick, returning to Campbell River on Tuesday. For each of the other Sundays in the month, parishioners celebrated the “Sunday Celebration of the Word”. In the past, Kathy and Greg have organised both sacramental preparation and the RCIA program.
Since the start of the pandemic however, the regular services and activities have been suspended because of safety concerns. Sadly, the monthly potluck lunch is also on hold. “Everyone usually brings their best meal,” said Greg, “so you can imagine how wonderful it is.” The post-Mass social coffee times have also been stopped due to the pandemic. These moments of simple connection are really important to an isolated community. Saddest of all, it seems, is having to cancel the annual pig roast.
For the time being, there is just the monthly Mass, but even that now takes Greg about ten hours to organise. There is working out the geometry of social distancing, registering participants, organising the volunteers and setting up the church. That being said, one great thing about small communities is that everyone pitches in to help. Prior to Covid-19, Greg estimates that about 50% of the parishioners were volunteering: “Everyone is pulling together, and our numbers are growing.”
In the northern parishes, care is taken to protect each community by not cross contaminating.
What is on the horizon for the parishioners of Port Hardy? They are looking into bringing a television into the church so that they can participate together in Bishop Gary’s Sunday Mass. Of course, they are also looking forward to the pig roast again.
For those who enjoy peace and quiet, Kathy says, the life in the north is wonderful. However, both she and Greg were adamant in their plea, “Do not take what you have for granted. Pray for priests and vocations. And thoroughly, thoroughly celebrate your Mass.”
