St. Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, Diocese of Clonfert. Priests have stressed the need for the Church to remain present to people, including – where possible – keeping churches open as a place of sanctuary for those seeking to “reconnect” with faith and home.
Fr Cathal Geraghty of the Clonfert Diocese is one of several clergy calling for church buildings to remain open as a symbol of sanctuary in a period of “uncertainty”.
“We want to keep the cathedral [in Loughrea] open for as long as possible because people need sanctuary, and if they can’t find sanctuary at their churches then they will be even more despondent,” he told The Irish Catholic.
“In a time of uncertainty, people want to reconnect with their own roots and would like to be at home if they are abroad, and they would aim to connect to that through watching our Masses on the webcam…one of the comments from an email we got recently reads ‘it is lovely to see the sanctuary and the cathedral, it links me up with home’,” he said.
Similarly, Fr Patrick Dunne of Raphoe said many of the churches in his diocese are using the webcam and Facebook to connect people to their parish.
“That’s had a huge impact where people are connecting more with their parishes,” Fr Dunne said about livestreaming daily Masses. “I do feel that people want to have that connection with their parishes and there’s a large following of people, who are away from home who are following their parishes online on social media,” he said.
Online viewing
Fr Francis Judge of Killala Diocese says an audience of around 600 watch weekend Mass in his parish via the webcam and the numbers are increasing each week. “A lot of new people join every week because more and more people hear about it,” he said of the increase in online viewing figures.
“We have people as far away as America that hear about it.
“They find it helpful and they like to be in tune with their own parish…families are gathering and watching Mass online together,” adds Fr Judge.
“There’s so many reflections and prayers being shared by young people than there would have been before,” he said.