HONG KONG (SE): While Holy Week and Easter events livestreamed by Vatican Media reached millions of people around the world, the live broadcast of Masses was also much needed by people in Hong Kong amid the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. A survey carried out by a website, Catholiclaity.net, released on April 14, showed 80 per cent of respondents took part in online Mass.
The website posted an online questionnaire on March 20 to explore the feelings and situations of the laity while taking part in online Masses. A total of 4,900 replies were received before the March 30 deadline.
Even though diocesan guidelines did not make watching livestreamed Masses an obligation and it could be replaced by meditating on the Sunday’s liturgical text (Chancery Notice, February 6), 84 per cent of respondents said they joined Sunday Masses online. A high percentage of them are over 61-years-old, indicating that accessing the Internet was not a problem for many among the older generation.
Twenty-two per cent said they took part in online weekday Masses as well, while 16 per cent said they joined webcast Eucharistic celebrations. Over 50 per cent said it is better to attend Mass in person. However, nearly 10 per cent felt it was better to go online.
If churches are open for Masses after the pandemic, 52 per cent of respondents said they would not or would most likely not watch Masses online. On the other hand, 35 per cent said they would or might continue watching the live webcast.
The survey also showed that the livestreaming drew people who did not ordinarily attend Masses to watch. Among the respondents, 29 per cent said they did not join actual Masses prior to the pandemic.
On the other hand, some respondents pointed out that an Mass at which all are physically present gives them a sense of belonging, while an online Mass does not. Another problem is that the many distractions at home might make it hard for people to concentrate.
However, some respondents said the Internet has provided them with a convenient source of liturgical and spiritual material. For example, one respondent said she is happy to watch the weekday Mass at the Holy Spirit Seminary on the way to work as she can’t attend Masses there. Some said they would watch more than one Mass online to hear the homilies of different priests, while others said they would repeatedly watch an online Mass as they prayed or meditated.
The laity in Hong Kong were also glad to watch the Holy Week and Easter events shared by Vatican Media.
The deputy editor of Vatican News, Alessandro Gisotti, told Catholic News Service there were almost 18 million viewers who watched the live video feeds of Holy Week events on the Vatican News Facebook pages in different languages. The Good Friday Way of the Cross alone had more than five million viewers. Levels of engagement on Facebook were high, with 1.9 million actions on their accounts and an “exceptional number” of almost 143,000 comments made during the pope’s Easter events April 12.
While all major papal Masses, liturgies and services have long been offered online, only a handful of events are broadcast worldwide via satellite each year. However, this year the Vatican offered for the first time, all major Holy Week and Easter events.
