Unable to be with dying parishioners due to COVID-19, Connecticut priest gives Last Rites by phone

[Episcopal News Service] For a church centered around the sacraments as “outward and visible” signs of God’s grace, the COVID-19 pandemic’s hampering of priests’ in-person ministry has posed new dilemmas. While most Episcopalians are now unable to receive the Eucharist in its physical form, many are experiencing the sacrament virtually, through a phone or a computer screen. A Connecticut priest is extending that approach to the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick (sometimes referred to as Holy Unction or Last Rites) as he balances the spiritual needs of his parishioners with the physical distancing needed to slow the spread of the virus.