Post pandemic church

wil

wil

UNeyeR1
Veteran Member
Messages
24,586
Reaction score
3,960
Points
108
Location
a figment of your imagination
Are you back to church?

Has it changed and how?

With the variant we are still on zoom and my minister's topic was the pandemic and the church and potential futures and benefit.

 
I don't always go to church every Sunday but it's nice to be able to. I went to mass yesterday. Wine not served at communion yet. No holy water font yet, masks strongly recommended. No collection 'plate' being passed around the pews, but a collection basket at the door on the way out -- which latter is the way it should stay, imo

The usual smirky 'skeptic' person come to church accompanying his Catholic partner, and refusing to kneel, sitting comfortably back in the pew, preventing the blind person behind him from kneeling forward properly.
 
Last edited:
RJM Corbet said:
The usual smirky 'skeptic' person come to church accompanying his Catholic partner, and refusing to kneel, sitting comfortably back in the pew, preventing the blind person behind him from kneeling forward properly.
Click to expand...

Bad manners.

I get invited to religious services (very) occasionally. I try to fit in, try to behave like the guest I am.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RJM
Cino said:
Bad manners.

I get invited to religious services (very) occasionally. I try to fit in, try to behave like the guest I am.
Click to expand...
Yes. There are folks who physically cannot kneel -- but most respectfully bow their head and try to sit forward on the pew so the person behind can kneel with their hands on the rail in front. Then you get the ones who crinkle-up their nose and wave away the incense with their hand, lol

Very few monks left now at the Abbey ... don't know how long it will be able to continue
 
The offering at the door makes huge sense to me.

I hate the guilt that folks perceive by the offering plate (for those with little or no funds it is embarrassing both not being able to contribute monetarily AND seeing 100 notes on the plate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RJM
wil said:
The offering at the door makes huge sense to me.

I hate the guilt that folks perceive by the offering plate (for those with little or no funds it is embarrassing both not being able to contribute monetarily AND seeing 100 notes on the plate.
Click to expand...
I don't like the collection either. Lately at the Abbey they were using a pouch, so no-one else sees what you put in. What you say, and also I just think it's a wrong idea to interrupt the service by passing around for money?
 
Last edited:
RJM Corbet said:
I don't like the collection either. Lately at the Abbey they were using a pouch, so no-one else sees what you put in. What you say, and also I just think it's a wrong idea to interrupt the service by passing around for money?
Click to expand...
My church uses the pouch..

But it is interesting how zoom, YouTube and FB have changed things...new people find the service, folks who have moved away come back, and folks who have moved on show back up. Expenses are reduced and donations online are clicks vs plate shaming
 
wil said:
My church uses the pouch..

But it is interesting how zoom, YouTube and FB have changed things...new people find the service, folks who have moved away come back, and folks who have moved on show back up. Expenses are reduced and donations online are clicks vs plate shaming
Click to expand...
Yes, the internet is changing everything.

@wil, I have a habit of picking up stuff off the pavement: I can't walk past a nut or a washer or a screw in good condition -- I pocket it and later drop it into a 2l plastic coke bottle with the top cut off at home, and often that's where I find the thing I need.

Once at Sunday mass, when there was still a plate, I dug my hand into my pocket for a few coins and ended up dropping a 13mm hex nut on there by mistake. You should have seen the face of the person next to me :eek:

I quickly snatched it back and made a joke: 'Ooops, I suppose I shouldn't try that in church.' It really happened -- really, lol
 
Last edited:
While prepandemic, televised sermons were a thing, they have exploded during.

And online interfaith info has always been available one can now find more choices from each religion denomination and sect.

I don't think that trend will reverse. What do you think will be the result?

Will folks find or migrate to the spectrum of liberal to conservative/orthodox in a bell curve....or lean one way?

Will offerings/charity increase or folks move to more secular pursuits?

Attendance eventually return, or churches go on the market?

More or less believers?
 
I think Catholics will continue to attend the physical mass because the physical eucharist is central. I don't know if a new generation may be more inclined towards a belief in the divine than the present one. It's not impossible because each new generation often goes against the previous one?
 
Regarding attendance, I was speaking to my cousin the other day, who has just submitted his PhD thesis.

His observation was that Catholicism is an altar-based religion – it's all about the Mass and the Eucharist – that has resonance with me. The more I think about it, the more I recall people saying just that. I remember my mum talking to me about theology: "I love listening to you speak (her mind was slipping away by this time); theology's all well and good, but as long as I receive my Eucharist, I don't care."

"my Eucharist" – there's a whole theology, right there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RJM
wil said:
How are these to reconciled
Click to expand...
The Eucharistic host is the bread wafer. Several folks do not take the wine anyway, for various reasons. Wine is not given to children at communion.

The sign of the cross using holy water on entering and leaving the church is meant as a reminder of baptism and a sort of purification -- I think @wil -- but holy water is not a part of the Mass except the priest adds a drop of ordinary water to the wine in the chalice before consecrating the wine.
 
Last edited:
This is sung in Latin during the weekly Catholic benediction ceremony which honours the consecrated host:

O salutaris Hostia,
Quae caeli pandis ostium:
Bella premunt hostilia,
Da robur, fer auxilium.
Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempiterna gloria,
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in patria.
Amen.

Close direct translation:

O saving Victim,
Who expands the door of heaven,
Hostile armies press,
Give strength; bear aid.
To the One and Triune Lord,
May there be everlasting glory; who life without end
gives us in the homeland.
Amen.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_salutaris_hostia
 
Last edited:
davidsheep88 said:
Went to church and it was normal but few people attended.
Click to expand...
So that may become the new normal for many denominations.

As physical churches, synagogues and mosques reduce attendance....should nearby ones merge or continue to waste funds heating and keeping an edifice to the past.

As compassionate people who care for the welfare of their local community what would be the best use for these buildings? Homeless shelters, educational facilities, artist havens?
 
wil said:
...should nearby ones merge ...
Click to expand...
They are, in some cases.

wil said:
what would be the best use for these buildings? Homeless shelters, educational facilities, artist havens?
Click to expand...
The issue then is not simply the making over of a piece of real estate — it's then the cost of conversation for the new usage, and then ongoing maintenance and support? As churches close in the UK, they tend to be sold to property developers ... and become luxury developments.

Currently, homeless shelters and 'good cause' facilities are facing bleak and critical futures. Adding more stock won't solve the crisis.

Reduced attendance means reduced income, so a lesser inclination to distribute wealth.

The RCC is probably the richest religion in the world, but if you factor in its wealth accrued over time, then modern US religions outstrip it in terms of wealth accrued since their establishment. 'Religious Freedom' in the US inevitably meant the commercialisation of religion.

The RCC is also the largest non-governmental provider of education and medical services in the world.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top