Catholic New Zealand is leaping to support local communities during the current lockdown.
The lockdown comes with a familiar high price for many New Zealanders, among them religious communities are unable to gather safekly for prayer and worship, and it makes ordinary community service difficult.
To help meet congregant’s spiritual needs, many local parishes are again streaming Mass.
Catholic dioceses and church organisations also offer streamed Masses as well as a range of other spiritual activities.
- Auckland diocese
- Hamilton diocese
- Palmerston North diocese – email list resources such as: Catholic radio, Rosary with Fr Vijay, children’s activity sheet, and Afternoon Prayer and a Cuppa with Fr Joe.
- Christchurch diocese
- Dunedin diocese
The National Liturgy office also has a selection of resources.
Wellington’s Catholic Catholic Social Services has published a list with links to various social organisations within the archdiocese that people can contact if they wish.
Elsewhere in the country, Rotorua’s Catholic parish priests are keeping in touch through more traditional media; parishioner phone calls and texts and the Bishop in Hamilton has again started online Masses.
“We’ve been encouraging everyone to join him”, Tauranga priest Richard Laurenson told the NZ Herald.
Those that are successful in reemerging from the COVID-19 lockdowns will likely be those that did a better job adapting to the pandemic.
One local community group, however, is using the opportunity to try something new; turning a physical event into one with potentially global participation.
In Otaki, an ecumenical initiative for the World Day of Prayer for Creation was scheduled for Wednesday, September 1.
The meeting is still scheduled for noon on Wednesday but it will take place on Zoom. Click the link to join.
The day of prayer is for Catholics and all Christians to pray for creation and our place in creation.
More widely, The Reverend John Hebenton, vicar of the Anglican Parish at Gate Pa, said his parish decided to hold this Sunday’s services online only.
“Last time we pre-recorded services. This time we’re going to use Zoom. It will be an interesting Sunday.”
He said the recent snap lockdown was “kind of easier and kind of more difficult”.
“There was a bit more lead-in time last time. We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when.
“This time it was happening in four hours. It was also a little bit more uncertain about how long [the lockdown] was going to go on.”
With millions of people having stayed home from places of worship during the coronavirus pandemic, struggling congregations have one key question: How many of them will return?
Smaller churches with older congregations that struggled to adapt during the pandemic are in the greatest danger of a downward spiral from which they can’t recover, says Rev Gloria E White-Hammond, lecturer at the Harvard Divinity School and co-pastor of a church in Boston.
With a lot of people stepping out of the habit, there is the potential for a significant drop in momentum.
Those that are successful in reemerging from the COVID-19 lockdowns will likely be those that did a better job adapting to the pandemic, said White-Hammond.
Those that kept a connection with congregants and relied less on the physical passing of the plate for donations stand a better chance of emerging unscathed, she said.
However, Rabbi Dusty Klass of Charlotte, North Caroilina Temple Beth El believes there will be no returning to “normal” after the pandemic.
“There were people who went home and may never come back to the sanctuary.
“They may just pray from their couch, and it’s up to us to make sure they have the opportunity.”
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