The Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education (MDCCE) aims to assess how the coronavirus pandemic has affected churchgoers with a new survey published last week.
Dr Gareth Byrne, Director of the MDCCE, said: “It is important to document the response of churchgoers to the Covid-19 crisis and its impact on their faith lives and connection with Church.
“We hope to capture evidence of people’s experiences during this time, as well as indicators of possibilities and learning for the future.”
The survey questions how people have coped with the pandemic and whether it strengthened or weakened their faith. It also asks how it has been for clergy and ministry teams trying to work during the crisis.
Experience
The hope is to capture evidence of people’s experience, the ministry they’ve received or given, and what people think will happen to churches after the pandemic.
Researchers at York St John University recently initiated an empirical study of these issues in discussion with bishops, clergy and lay people in England, Scotland and Wales.
Working with them, the MDCCE at DCU is making this survey available within the Irish context. It can be found here.