Photo: Alessandra Tarantino A new report has revealed that Churches will be “vital” in helping to restore “individual and community wellbeing” and building resilience.
The research, carried out by the University of York in England, saw over 5,500 people surveyed from across a range of backgrounds, and the results disclosed the impact closing churches had on social contact and on mental wellbeing, particularly the restrictions on funerals and other support for the grieving.
Some 79% of all respondents highlighted social isolation as a key issue in their community, while 75% of non-Church members wanted access to churches as places of quiet reflection and comfort.
Up to 87% of churches regularly contacted the isolated while 91% offered online engagement.
Commenting on the findings, Gladys Ganiel, sociologist at Queen’s University Belfast, said “I think in some ways it’s a continuation of what Churches are doing already during the pandemic”.
Referring to research she had done earlier in the pandemic across the whole island of Ireland, Ms Ganiel said “75% of parishes and congregations in the four largest denominations had either increased or maintained their services to the wider community”.
She described this as “impressive” given the context of the pandemic.
“The Churches are continuing to do that as we come out of the pandemic, and obviously now I think one of the big lessons that’s been learned is about the importance of community. People being isolated and so forth,” Ms Ganiel said.