Church openings at Christmas have mass appeal for Catholics
THERE is mass appeal for churches opening at Christmas, according to a new survey.
Currently a quarter of Irish people are tuning in to Mass online, according to a survey published yesterday.
The same poll found more than a third (36%) of people want to go to church at Christmas and more than half (54%) say services should be allowed to go ahead.
The amount of people who plan on attending services over Christmas rose to 47% among the over-55s age group. The Amárach poll, carried out for the Iona Institute, surveyed 1,000 adults this month and found significant support for churches being open at Christmas.
It found that 26% of Catholics were going to Mass regularly before the coronavirus outbreak, but just over half (54%) said they would go back now if they were allowed.
A senior Government minister told the Irish Daily Mail this week that churches would get a special dispensation to open at Christmas despite the fact they would normally operate online under Level 3 restrictions.
The minister said: ‘We are all aware how important it is for so many people to have churches and other places of worship open again, especially around Christmas time.’
Meanwhile, the Catholic faithful reminisced yesterday about better times when they could go on pilgrimages to Lourdes, where they would ‘pray hard and play hard’.
Noreen Murphy told RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline: ‘At night-time you can meet the Irish and have a laugh. It was very intimate and prayerful.
‘I miss Mass terribly but I can get it on Google. I have a laptop and I watched the Mass on Sunday and it was really fabulous.’
Audrey Kasselis, who has lived in the French town for 47 years, told Joe Duffy on Liveline that Lourdes is the happiest place on Earth.