Concern that in-person attendance at Mass has not returned to pre-pandemic levels has prompted the Irish bishops to prepare a special pastoral letter on Sunday Mass.
The new pastoral letter will be issued next year, with resources. It aims to “help achieve a greater appreciation of Sunday, knowing that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our spiritual and pastoral life”, the bishops said.
Following their winter general meeting in Maynooth, the bishops described Sunday Mass as “the very heartbeat of the Church and of our personal faith”.
In their statement, they acknowledged that while some may have drifted away from regular attendance of Mass, others have developed the habit of watching online instead of joining the community in person.
They appealed to families and individuals who are able to do so to return to Mass for Christmas and the New Year, “knowing the importance of the Sunday gathering in the life of our parishes”.
Earlier this year, a poll carried out by Amárach Research showed that 41 per cent of Catholics who attended Sunday Mass before Covid no longer did so.
The poll of 1,500 adults in Ireland found that just 59 per cent of Catholics who went to weekly Mass before Covid struck had returned to regular Mass attendance.
However, 31 per cent of those who used to attend Mass regularly but had not returned said their faith “isn’t as strong” since the pandemic.
A poll of 1,000 people in September 2020 found that 4 per cent of Mass-goers did not plan to return, while 19 per cent said they were “unsure” if they would return.
Separately, the bishops also announced a new updated sacramental marriage preparation programme from Accord, the Catholic Marriage Care Service, which will be launched in February 2024. This is the first major review of the programme since 2003.
The new marriage programme explains the nature of the sacrament of Marriage and facilitates a deepening of couples’ understanding of how to successfully manage their relationship in the context of today’s challenges. It shares techniques based on the most up-to-date psychological understanding of relationship dynamics.
The new programme has been piloted amongst couples, who indicated that they had found it engaging and enlightening.
The review was initiated by the bishops following the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in 2018 and its content has been informed by Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on love and the family, Amoris Laetitia.
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