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| How a Jesuit Priest in Quarantine Spends His Sundays | How a Jesuit Priest in Quarantine Spends His Sundays |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| On Sundays, the Rev. Mario Powell, who is almost certainly the city’s youngest African-American Jesuit priest, would typically crisscross the city, celebrating Mass with congregations in Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn. | On Sundays, the Rev. Mario Powell, who is almost certainly the city’s youngest African-American Jesuit priest, would typically crisscross the city, celebrating Mass with congregations in Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn. |
| But recently, like most New Yorkers, he has stayed at home. | But recently, like most New Yorkers, he has stayed at home. |
| “My connection to the church is through my sacramental ministry,” said Father Powell, who is 38. “Now that I don’t have it, especially this time of year when you have the High Holy Days coming up — it’s weird.” | “My connection to the church is through my sacramental ministry,” said Father Powell, who is 38. “Now that I don’t have it, especially this time of year when you have the High Holy Days coming up — it’s weird.” |
| The son of an Air Force jet engine mechanic, Father Powell discovered Catholicism in eighth grade and entered the Jesuits in 2003. During his training he served stints as a jail chaplain and as a hospital orderly. In 2019, he was appointed president of Brooklyn Jesuit Prep, a private middle school serving primarily low-income students. | The son of an Air Force jet engine mechanic, Father Powell discovered Catholicism in eighth grade and entered the Jesuits in 2003. During his training he served stints as a jail chaplain and as a hospital orderly. In 2019, he was appointed president of Brooklyn Jesuit Prep, a private middle school serving primarily low-income students. |
| Father Powell lives with eight other priests in a Jesuit community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where the men typically share meals, chores and services in a small chapel. But last week, after one priest tested positive for the coronavirus, the men have been living largely in isolation. | Father Powell lives with eight other priests in a Jesuit community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where the men typically share meals, chores and services in a small chapel. But last week, after one priest tested positive for the coronavirus, the men have been living largely in isolation. |
| AWAKE IN BED I’ve gotten to the age where I can’t really sleep in anymore, which is a little sad. I usually get up around 4:45, and on Sundays I’ll stay in bed — I won’t get out of bed until at least 6 o’clock, even though I’m up. That’s a little thing I’ll give myself on a Sunday. Part of the reason I wake up so early is it’s the only time of the day that I feel like I can pray. | AWAKE IN BED I’ve gotten to the age where I can’t really sleep in anymore, which is a little sad. I usually get up around 4:45, and on Sundays I’ll stay in bed — I won’t get out of bed until at least 6 o’clock, even though I’m up. That’s a little thing I’ll give myself on a Sunday. Part of the reason I wake up so early is it’s the only time of the day that I feel like I can pray. |
| COFFEE RUN, ON HOLD I like to go around the corner, there is a little coffee shop that has these wonderful pastries and I’ll pick up some drip coffee. But I haven’t gone out in the last month. It really changes the routine because — to be able to at least get outside for a couple of minutes, the barista knows me, and knows my order — you don’t really have that interaction anymore. | COFFEE RUN, ON HOLD I like to go around the corner, there is a little coffee shop that has these wonderful pastries and I’ll pick up some drip coffee. But I haven’t gone out in the last month. It really changes the routine because — to be able to at least get outside for a couple of minutes, the barista knows me, and knows my order — you don’t really have that interaction anymore. |
| MUTED The way we worship together in the community has changed. The chairs are very spread out. There are all these little variations that we’ve had to get used to. Even singing: I was reading about the amount that people spray their saliva as they’re singing, and so it was recommended that we don’t sing during Mass. But now that a brother Jesuit priest in the community tested positive, we aren’t all gathering in the chapel any more. | MUTED The way we worship together in the community has changed. The chairs are very spread out. There are all these little variations that we’ve had to get used to. Even singing: I was reading about the amount that people spray their saliva as they’re singing, and so it was recommended that we don’t sing during Mass. But now that a brother Jesuit priest in the community tested positive, we aren’t all gathering in the chapel any more. |
| LITTLE BOXES Yesterday I celebrated Mass over Zoom, and that’s a completely different way of going about it. I’m used to a 30-person gospel choir, versus I have my tablet on the altar and 12 boxes on my screen: that’s my congregation. I prepared it in the same way I would prepare Mass for 300 people. At points, quite frankly, the kids were screaming in the background and some of the congregants forgot to press the mute button and you just had to roll with it. I found it very comforting, having all that stuff going on. | LITTLE BOXES Yesterday I celebrated Mass over Zoom, and that’s a completely different way of going about it. I’m used to a 30-person gospel choir, versus I have my tablet on the altar and 12 boxes on my screen: that’s my congregation. I prepared it in the same way I would prepare Mass for 300 people. At points, quite frankly, the kids were screaming in the background and some of the congregants forgot to press the mute button and you just had to roll with it. I found it very comforting, having all that stuff going on. |
| BACK TO BASICS While Covid-19 has definitely changed my Sunday and I definitely miss being present in the church, and I don’t think there’s anything that replaces that, I also think it’s given us opportunities for some really great conversations about faith. It’s been a forced change, but it’s also forced me to go back to basics. | BACK TO BASICS While Covid-19 has definitely changed my Sunday and I definitely miss being present in the church, and I don’t think there’s anything that replaces that, I also think it’s given us opportunities for some really great conversations about faith. It’s been a forced change, but it’s also forced me to go back to basics. |
| We’re all in the same boat here. Hopefully, outside of this moment of pandemic, it should remind us that we’re not only in the same boat in times of crisis. We ought to be in the same boat when it comes to access to health care, and education, and everything else. | We’re all in the same boat here. Hopefully, outside of this moment of pandemic, it should remind us that we’re not only in the same boat in times of crisis. We ought to be in the same boat when it comes to access to health care, and education, and everything else. |
| Updated July 22, 2020 | |
| ESCAPE I’ve been trying to read more. I just finished “The Sound of Things Falling” by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. It’s a fantastic novel. I find reading novels for me to be a point of departure. It’s an escape from being in charge, and you just allow the author to take you wherever the author is going to take you. | ESCAPE I’ve been trying to read more. I just finished “The Sound of Things Falling” by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. It’s a fantastic novel. I find reading novels for me to be a point of departure. It’s an escape from being in charge, and you just allow the author to take you wherever the author is going to take you. |
| SOLITUDE AND PAPER PLATES In the community, we would normally have dinner as nine people together around a single table at the same time. But with the protocols that are out there, someone will put the food out and guys will grab a paper plate and either eat in their rooms or at a table by themselves. We really prize living in community, and not being able to eat in community is a big deal. | SOLITUDE AND PAPER PLATES In the community, we would normally have dinner as nine people together around a single table at the same time. But with the protocols that are out there, someone will put the food out and guys will grab a paper plate and either eat in their rooms or at a table by themselves. We really prize living in community, and not being able to eat in community is a big deal. |
| VIRTUAL CAROUSING A Zoom happy hour is a wonderful creation of God: everyone has a drink, and the idea is to encourage folks to not necessarily drink on their own, but to drink with friends and people that they care about, and to do it via video. These are priests who entered the Jesuits with me a long time ago now. We go on for like two and a half hours. | VIRTUAL CAROUSING A Zoom happy hour is a wonderful creation of God: everyone has a drink, and the idea is to encourage folks to not necessarily drink on their own, but to drink with friends and people that they care about, and to do it via video. These are priests who entered the Jesuits with me a long time ago now. We go on for like two and a half hours. |
| BLESSINGS I will pray what we call the Examen before going to bed. And that’s simply a check-in: looking throughout my day. These are the points in time in which God has blessed me. These are the conversations that I’ve had, the people I’ve encountered, which I can really categorize as being blessings. | BLESSINGS I will pray what we call the Examen before going to bed. And that’s simply a check-in: looking throughout my day. These are the points in time in which God has blessed me. These are the conversations that I’ve had, the people I’ve encountered, which I can really categorize as being blessings. |
| It’s just pointing those things out and asking God for guidance, and then pausing to give thanks for the gifts and for the opportunities to learn from my mistakes. And I’m praying that I may have another day to do this again. | It’s just pointing those things out and asking God for guidance, and then pausing to give thanks for the gifts and for the opportunities to learn from my mistakes. And I’m praying that I may have another day to do this again. |