Due to restrictions as a result of COVID, many Notre Dame students do not attend weekly Masses anymore. Their communion quota is limited to what they receive from monthly school Masses.
By | Isabella Holzer
The 2020-2021 school year included Mass days live-streamed to classrooms, and a limited audience consisting of some teachers and a small choir, who were permitted to stay in the chapel with the priest instead of the gym.
These live-streamed Masses were in line with the rigid maximum capacity rules that took place during this time.
For this school year, the schedule changed from a quarterly system to a semester system. The looser restrictions affected Mass days as well: two grade levels were permitted during gym Masses until a sudden change in January, when Masses were met with the same restrictions as classes, but with an even lower maximum capacity of people permitted to stay in the chapel.
Soon after forgoing the communal aspect of the Mass in favour of tripod live streams, the Notre Dame students and teachers were subjected to some technical issues, namely, feedback delays during the January and February masses.
Classrooms that had their audio delayed by a second or more due to connectivity problems would unintentionally produce this incredibly distracting echo effect that everyone in the halls could hear because COVID rules mandated that doors remain open.
The decision to remove the choir was a good one primarily because of this echo effect, as feedback issues characterised by a decidedly unholy-sounding technologically formed vocal canon would undoubtedly drive people insane.
Unfortunately, because choir is now a no-show, I will no longer be able to collect any more of the acclaimed, useful, and occupationally necessary Thirty Work-Life Balance Hours for my Career-Life Connections CAPSTONE Research Career Planning Presentation Project Assignment Video.
If I were a cynic, I would say that something as wholly unpredictable as a raging multi-variant virus circulating around the globe may just affect the meticulous balance of not just my mandatory objectives, but the school’s.
In these slightly-less-trying times, I hope that the current safety mandates can be adjusted to allow the school to re-establish the true purpose of the Mass, so that a pandemic will not get in the way of our school’s commitment to faith and my commitment to graduating.
That, in turn, would allow Notre Dame to continue to do everything possible to honour our commitment to faith, and towards supporting all of our graduating students with respect to what they need prior to completing their high school experience.
Mr. DesLauriers