Priests warn against watching multiple Masses online

There is a risk Mass becomes “entertainment” rather than a source of nourishment, particularly when several services are watched a day, priests have warned.

Watching Mass on RTÉ and on webcam was a great service during Covid and continues to be for the sick and elderly, but it “was never meant to be a substitute for presence”, Fr Barry Matthews Adm. of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh told The Irish Catholic.

“The whole idea of Mass is that you prepare yourself to go, you are truly present there, you are focused, you are connected while you’re there, and you leave nourished and refreshed. The idea that you would be able to watch five Masses, that really goes against what Mass is,” Fr Matthews said.

“It’s a big risk that it becomes more of an entertainment, we just put it on as background noise – I think that would be very dangerous, we want to stay well clear of that and we want to be able to gather as a community of Faith.”

Fr Joe Deegan PP of Clara parish, Co. Offaly, said that there are many older people who “will watch two or three Masses a day” and have not returned to Mass physically since the pandemic.

“That [livestreaming] is nourishing their spirit, it’s feeding them, but I would like to tell them that coming to Mass, connecting to people in a real way, and obviously receiving the physical Eucharist in Holy Communion, that brings it to another level,” he said.

Fr Deegan warned against the “isolation of sitting at home”, which only “compounds an isolation that can build up for older people, whereas if they can get out to Mass physically there is so much more to gain just from being there with other people in that community setting”.

He added: “Even the simple thing of a little chat before or afterwards, I think that’s important for people and it’s obviously a very important aspect of the Christian Faith, it’s about community as well as communion. The physical presence of gathering, the ecclesia, the getting together is a very important element of the way we do liturgy and the way we practice our Faith.”

For the PP of Ennis parish in Co. Clare, Fr Tom Ryan, there are currently some people who have chosen not to return to Church because they find “the connection at home a little more comfortable and easier to participate in”.

“The people who stay at home are always welcome but they are missing out on a very important part of faith community and that’s the coming together, communion and being with one another and to be physically able to receive communion,” he said.

Fr Ryan added: “I don’t think it was ever intended with the technology that people would now just be able to stay at home. It was for those who couldn’t come and so they could still be part of the community. It certainly served a great purpose during the pandemic but as time has evolved now, the invitation is for people to return to the Church.”