Herrmann Family Adapts to Quarantine Mass By Mallory (Goebel) Hertel ‘07
Jake ’05 and Kathy (Goebel) ’05 Herrmann have 5 children: Jeffrey (9), Noah (7), Gabriel (5), Lucas (2), and Veronica (9 mo.)
Jake washing the kid’s feet.
Adapting to anything with 5 children can be quite the challenge, but Kathy ‘05 and her husband, Jake ‘05, have managed to find a silver lining in practicing their faith at home with their crew. Creating teachable moments for her kids is something Kathy reflects on fondly: “When it all first happened, the kids were so into it. They loved being able to choose which mass to watch: For instance, one time we streamed a service from a big cathedral in New York. It was really neat to “travel” to different parishes through the virtual masses. It even helped us go during the week. It gave us a teaching opportunity for our children to “participate” in mass-each kid taking on a role during the service in our home like the priest and altar servers. We set up an altar in the living room, had glasses for communion, etc... and the kids learned more about the parts of the mass. It was a great learning experience for them and something I know they will never forget.” “Since there were no services in person for Holy Week, we did some things at home and it was the most memorable Holy Week I can recall just doing it at our house. Not having anywhere to go was nice and allowed more time to make it come alive for the kids.”
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