Pope Francis' encyclical 'Fratelli Tutti' and a virtual, welcoming church

On the eve of the feast of St. John Vianney, I read the National Catholic Reporter column "Virtual reality and the coming Catholic Metaverse" by Phyllis Zagano, and my soul glorified the Lord. I was inspired to interview a few people who were attending or not attending online Mass.

They expressed their feelings about the churches being closed:

• I have mostly night duty working for the call center. I am happy that the churches are closed down, otherwise every Sunday morning Mom would shout, "Are you not going for Mass? God has given you everything. Can't you sacrifice one morning?" Sunday morning is the only morning of the week I have a good long sleep, sit with a cup of coffee, keep surfing a church for lively singing and creative homilies. Hope the churches will remain permanently closed.
• I am a retired teacher. Of course, I mourn for the death of loved ones and not able to pay my last respect by attending funeral Mass, etc. But I am truly grateful to God for the online Mass. It saves my time, giving me space for silent, meditative participation in the online Mass. Plenty of choices of different choirs in different languages, different places — above all without tension of catching coronavirus.
• Living in a village is a tightrope walk. I have moved out of the Catholic church. Before pandemic, my children suffered the humiliation like: "Your Mom has gone to the believer's group, she will not be buried in our cemetery." Now the arrival of the pandemic, God saved my children from those scornful eyes and I have no worries as of burial Mass and place.

I asked them how they contributed to the church collection, and they had a variety of answers:

• Oh, sister, that is very good question. As a media-savvy person, I am aware of the misuse of church collection for wrong activities by "pedophilia mafia." On a regular basis, I connect with the [nongovernmental organizations] who work on the concerns mentioned by Pope Francis in the Laudato Si' and Fratelli Tutti. I contribute more than a tithe for the cause close to my heart.
• I send a cheque to a young mother who works as my housemaid and give monthly rations to the families of the rickshaw drivers who died during pandemic.
• Instead of church collections, I pay fees of their children as a relief to those parents who find it difficult meeting both the ends.

These responses led me to an awareness of what type of church is emerging. Pope Francis's third scholarly papal encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, is a clarion call to a new way of ministering — evolving a virtual pastoral church.

With its comprehensive and solid analysis of the tribulations of our contemporary crises, Fratelli Tutti advocates a church evolving at the grassroot levels: helping migrants find a place to belong, changing inhuman policies to make them favorable to the poor, to women, and the excluded.

This evolving virtual church is asking us for dialogue. I counted this myself: The word dialogue occurs 49 times in this encyclical. To bridge the gap in our fragmented world, Anna Rowlands says, "there needs to be a dialogue — which is exactly what the document calls for — about the ways in which we relate to each other continues to be fragmented and broken."

In his Document on Human Fraternity, Francis appealed to us: "In the name of God and of everything stated thus far, [we] declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard."

Francis' dream of drawing all kindhearted people into a long-overdue dialogue to form a wider cosmic community is commendable. His plea: "Let us dream then, as a single human family" reminds me of the Indian worldview of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" — one universe family.

This dream asks all of us to recognize that we are co-pilgrims along with all creatures of Mother Earth — our common home. It echoes Rabindranath Tagore's vision, "where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls."

Dialogue will lead us, working in unity, to eliminate threats of war, the buildup of toxic armaments, famine, poverty, environmental degradation, racism, discrimination and violation of human rights. Francis invites us to make real God's dream of a new heaven and a new earth for all, challenges us to move away from individual piety to civic ethics, to honor our Mother Earth, to respect cultural differences, and speak out for a just world.