TEXAS CITY, Texas — A Catholic priest in Texas City is meeting his parishioners right where they are, at home.
"I’m enjoying it a lot. I get to see everybody," Father Clint Ressler said. "It gets me out of the house. You know, and away from the computer for a little while. See how everybody’s doing, you know? With all of it."
Ressler is the pastor St. Mary's of the Miraculous Medal. With the help of his 10-speed bicycle, the church is now mobile.
One parishioner told him, "Some days are really good. Some days aren't so good."
Over the last few weeks, he's been visiting church members at their homes. He has been mapping our routes based on their addresses and then running or biking to each home, depending on the weather.
He wraps each visit with a blessing. On the day we followed him, this is what Father Clint prayed:
"Heavenly Father, we ask you boldly and with faith for your protection and your healing on our world, on our community and upon this family. Fill our hearts with peace and make us instruments of love and peace and hope to our neighbors as we walk this way with your son. May your blessing come upon them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
"Consistently what I hear is how hard it is. I mean, really," Ressler said of his conversations with families. "Whether they’re staying home and they have to adjust to that and all of the fear, or if they have to go out or if they have to work."
He said the people he's spoken with feel distant from God because they can't go to church.
"That was their access point to God, going to church on Sunday. So it is giving us an opportunity to maybe try to find God in new ways," Ressler said.
No matter if you pray at church, in your car or on your porch with your priest, in the end, it's our faith that will help us go the distance.