Factors Affecting Australian Catholics’ Return to Mass After COVID-19 Church Closures

Abstract

In 2020, many places of worship closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, raising questions about rates of return to worship after COVID-19. This survey-based study of 806 Australian churchgoing Catholics explores relationships between a range of variables and the rate of return to Mass attendance after church closures. Pre-closure Mass attendance rate strongly and significantly predicted real-life worship during church closures and higher rates of return to Mass attendance after churches reopened. Real-life worship during COVID-19 also strongly predicted return to Mass attendance, and positively mediated the relationship between pre- and post-closure Mass attendance rates. Virtual worship engagement did not significantly predict return to Mass attendance, but positively mediated the relationship between pre- and post-closure Mass attendance rates, with a smaller effect size.

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“…While some of these decreases were already in motion, the global pandemic induced many church closures, as social distancing became a method of slowing the transmission of the virus (Freudenberger, 2020). Thus, traditional church attendance and other ways of engaging in organized religion were affected (Brien, 2020; Bryson et al, 2020; Martyr, 2022; Pillay, 2020; Wildman et al, 2020; Wild-Wood & Chow, 2020). Like individuals in society at-large, several of my participants also described how, in some ways, the global pandemic and church closures influenced their engagement with organized religion and subsequent development of personal religious and spiritual practices.…”

“…While there have been positive associations for individuals who engage in spiritual and religious activities, how and to what degree individuals engage may vary. Even prior to the global pandemic, also commonly referred to as COVID-19 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020), which resulted in federal mandates closing the physical doors of many religious institutions beginning in March 2020 (Brien, 2020; Bryson et al, 2020; Martyr, 2022; Pillay, 2020; Wildman et al, 2020; Wild-Wood & Chow, 2020), shifts in attendance at religious services were being felt in the United States (Chaves & Stephens, 2003; Hout & Greeley, 1998; Lipka, 2015).…”