Courtesy Photo Hiking on Easter Sunday at West Virginia’s Forks of Coal State Natural Area are Kathy, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, and Ron Rushworth (pictured from left). The family belongs to the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Charleston.

By Martina Hart
With churches being closed and all public Masses suspended in order to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, everyone has also been faced with the challenges of living their faith. Two families from the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Charleston shared their experiences of adjusting to the new circumstances.
“We still get up on Sunday and go to Mass,” said Jennifer Hurt. “We don’t have to worry so much about getting there on time and dressing up though” since Mass is now taking place online and in their living room. Jennifer and Mark Hurt together with their children, Elizabeth and Nicholas Shaf (17 and 15) appreciate livestreamed Masses from the basilica as well as from parishes of former associate rectors.
“It felt so comfortable, seeing your own priest in your own church,” Jennifer said. “I know you don’t get to receive Communion, but there’s plenty of benefit to feeling part of your community that you’re used to.”
Their beagle Roscoe is also present and “gets really quiet when we’re singing or saying prayers.” She has also been able to attend livestream Mass on weekdays. Jennifer works at Charleston Catholic High School and had to adjust to teaching classes via video connections. Mark has a homebased position in educational sales. The children also attend classes online.
“I’m definitely spending more time with my family,” she said. “We are eating more meals together. We are watching the entire Harry Potter series and taking daily walks in our neighborhood.”
“Strong family is connected to strong faith,” she added. “If you’re building your family bridges and they’re getting stronger because you’re stuck inside and you’re learning to spend time with each other, you’re strengthening your faith indirectly, for sure.”
Due to their exposure to a lot of people before the stay-at-home order, they have not been visiting Jennifer’s dad who also lives in Charleston. Besides connecting via FaceTime, the kids make little surprise packages for their grandpa every week with things that he likes and leave them on his porch. Jennifer also shared how her uncle passed away recently at a local nursing home.
“I gave my cousin Father Don’s (Higgs) number to call him for the last rites,” she said, and the family appreciated being able to participate in the sacrament via FaceTime.
Jennifer recently reached out to one of her younger students who was struggling. During a one-on-one video session, she discovered that he felt very lonely as an only child whose parents are essential workers.
“He just broke my heart,” she said. “He doesn’t even have a pet, and he wasn’t really eating lunch.” She encouraged him to eat things like peanut butter to get energy and to take walks for exercise and also as a way to distantly connect to some of his neighbors.
Ron and Kathy Rushworth and their children, Elizabeth (16), Mary (12) and Thomas (5), have had similar experiences. Kathy and Ron shared, completing each other’s sentences, how they were caught off guard when suddenly Masses and services were stopped at the beginning of Lent, having been used to attending Stations of the Cross on a weekly basis.
Before livestream Masses became more available, they worshiped on Sundays as a family, using a missal for the readings, praying together, and listening to Bishop Robert Barron’s homily on a podcast. “I’ve been getting those for years,” Kathy explained. They then took turns preparing their Sunday services. Elizabeth consulted Google to find the Prayer of the Faithful from another parish.
“They were from a couple of weeks ago, but it was all still pretty relevant to the whole country and the world.”
Practicing her faith has also become somewhat easier since she has more time now. “At night I’m not as stressed out about school the next day or anything, so I feel like I can take a minute to pray, and then I just have more time throughout the day. Our lives aren’t as rushed anymore, and I don’t have as many things going through my head day to day, so I have more time to think about prayer and everything like that.”
“I’m trying do the daily readings and a reflection every morning. I use an app on my phone for that. And I found that is easier for me to do now because I’m not worried about getting lunches packed and making sure that everybody has clean clothes and rushing out the door so I can get to work on time,” Kathy said.
Both Ron and Kathy are engineers, Ron working as a project manager, now mainly from home while Kathy at times also has to go out in the field in her position with the West Virginia Department of Highways.
Mary is a sixth grader at Charleston Catholic High School. As part of a theology class assignment, students were asked to do something “to bring the light of Christ into your house.” She has been assisting her brother Thomas with his preschool lessons, which has been a big help for the working parents.
“The next day we have to write about what we did and how people reacted and that kind of thing,” Mary said. For Easter the children usually receive baskets from an older family friend. “This year we made an Easter basket for her with Easter eggs, crafts, paintings, home baked cookies,” Kathy said. “We dropped it off on her step and waved at her and drove away.”
The Rushworths also have enjoyed spending more time together as a family, completing puzzles or playing games that are geared toward Thomas’ age, so everyone can participate.
Both families shared that they have benefitted from their faith which, in turn, has been strengthened by this experience. “It has certainly been a huge lesson, a huge reminder of we are not really in charge,” Jennifer said. “You really need to put your faith in God and hope for the best, and try to live a good life. And I think it slowed us all down to maybe think about those things more.”
“A benefit of my faith is just being a hopeful person,” Kathy said. “Even though there is all this chaos and life might never be the same as it was before coronavirus, I’m optimistic, and I’m hopeful that it still will be very good. There’s just a lot of reason to have hope for our future.”