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Many of those who attended religious services before Covid-19 will never return to public worship, while the Catholic Church will be a “significantly different” entity after the pandemic has passed, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said.
During his homily at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin on Saturday, Archbishop Martin said that Ireland’s religious culture, and especially Dublin, is “at a crossroads”.
“It is not the crossroads of martyrdom or oppression,” he said. “Certainly there is hostility towards the church from some quarters. The current shift in religious culture is inspired more by indifference, uncertainty, and sometimes willful rejection.
“The fact that there are more civil weddings in Ireland today than religious marriage ceremonies is not by imposition. The fact that, according to the latest census, ‘no religion’ is the second largest population group after Roman Catholics is the fruit of choice. “
Archbishop Martin said that the demographics of church attendance have already been affected by the pandemic.
‘Another challenging moment’
“I believe that the challenges of church life due to the current pandemic are pointing the way to another challenging time for the church,” he said. “Many whose attendance at religious services before the pandemic was fragile will never return to public worship.
“When the churches reopened for public worship during the summer term, the numbers were low and the demographics of the returnees were different. The younger faces were conspicuously missing.
“The number of people who will attend public worship in the foreseeable future will be significantly less. It would be foolish to imagine that many of those who do not return to worship will not also find themselves drifting away from broader ties to church life.
“The post-pandemic church will look significantly different than the church we traditionally knew.”
Archbishop Martin added that the church would have to carry its message beyond the doors of its buildings.
“In our current situation where attendance at public worship is suspended, we have to constantly remind ourselves that the Christian life is not suspended,” he said.
“The doors of our church may be closed for public worship, but the message of Jesus Christ does not belong only to the buildings. We must carry that message to those who are open to it, whether they are near or far from church, young or old. “
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