Everyday Hero: Father Daniel Serbicki
At the start of the pandemic there was a novelty feel to the experience. The shared panic buying and stocking up on supplies like toilet paper and hand sanitizer had everyone driving from store to store to get the essentials. No one knew what the future had in store and how many lives were going to change.
A casualty in one of many shutdowns were churches. In the town of Corfu, New York, Father Daniel Serbicki had to adjust to a “new normal” and how to keep the parish community connected.
A self-proclaimed “nerd” Father Dan enjoyed learning about technology and figuring out how to help people with his skills. He remembers when he was a 7-year-old when his father brought home their first Mac computer, and how he thought it was an exciting new technology opening up new avenues for the future. This was the beginning of his love for technology and wanting to learn more. As he got older, he would help other people with their technology needs and marveled at how computers connected other people with things they loved and valued, their work, hobbies, and more importantly with each other.
When it came to deciding what path to follow for his future, Father Dan saw himself at a crossroads. “I always had an interest in technology and an interest in helping people and I thought I can really help people even more if I was a priest,” he says.
Thinking back on it Father Dan says, “I looked up to pastors” he grew up in a religious household and attended mass regularly and any and all church functions. “I started to see them helping people in a similar way, I never had a tech savvy pastor growing up none of them were helping people in that way. But they were still able to help people connect with things that they needed and the ability to help people find what they need, maybe someone doesn’t need their computer set up, but they need food, maybe someone doesn’t have a problem with their email, but they need social services and above all else, these people need a sense of spirituality, God can hook them up with blessings the Geek Squad can’t,” Father Dan said.
The thought of becoming a priest Father Dan had to stop and really think about not only what he wanted but what God had planned for him. “With the interest (priesthood) there’s a whole spiritual side to it, there’s praying and discernment and asking God, ‘is this what you want me to do’, having a strong personal relationship with the Lord is very important, you go to the Lord and you open up and you talk about your problems and your questions and try to sort things out and eventually I came to believe that this is something God wanted,” Father Dan said.
A priest now in his 10th year, Father Dan had had to adjust to what the new normal was. Since the pandemic hit it became apparent that he now could use his skills with technology to keep the parish unified and the congregation feeling the presence of God and community amidst these turbulent times.
“We had recently upgraded our sound system over in the Corfu site before the pandemic and when it hit we reached out again and asked about a video component and we were able to connect the church with internet and web stream masses,” Father Dan said.
Father Dan has sought out ways to help reconnect family in small ways and one of those ways is conducting funerals. “I’ve had situations where somebody would be in Florida, California, or Canada and they would say ‘I cant be there, I can’t be there in time I can’t quarantine or I can’t get across the border physically because it’s not allowed.’ I would say that’s all right we can stream you can see somebody give the eulogy at least, you can see people coming up for communion it sort of the next best thing and people have been understanding and very appreciative of that.”
One of the most difficult aspects he’s had to face is the sacrament of anointing the sick. With the strict hospital regulations visiting people who were sick was almost nonexistent. “I was literally only able to go to the hospital if somebody was in danger of death. The assumptions that were made was well they are already dying lets get you through the hospital as quickly as we can get you to their bedside do the sacrament and then leave. That was tough because those were moments to be with family.”
Connecting with the family afterwards is what Father Dan strived to do “When you’re going to the hospital, its often to meet with family, but family cant be there so there’s this gap. I would make sure to call and follow up as best as I could and let them know I was there to help and grieve with them. I think as we move out of this there’s going to be a lot of catch up when it comes to grief,” Father Dan said.
The ease in regulation in New York has allowed for churches to open up their doors again to eager parishioners looking for a sense of normalcy again. Although mass might look a little different with pews being roped off to maintain social distancing and masks being worn at all times the sense of community and a welcoming embrace is still present.
“When it comes to the parish, beginning to reconnect people with this sense of spirituality and the sense of the divine and ultimately with the family they found here and loved it’s been wonderful,” Father Dan said.
