Online Masses or Offline? What’s Your Take?

Tom Thomas –

COVID-19 pandemic times seem a long time ago. But really it is only a couple of years or so since it affected us all. An era that brought a great change in all our lives globally – including, as Catholics, how we attend daily Mass.

Before COVID-19, my elderly father who is a sprightly 87 year-old would drive to Church on his own and attend the morning Mass daily. But COVID brought down not only his — but all our attendance to Mass to only in an online form. In between there were periods when the COVID levels went down, and the Churches opened briefly only to shut down again.

There are many things one gets used to when going for daily Mass. The comfort of sitting in the pew where one wants, the other familiar faces and their own favourite positions. It is a kind of silent solidarity among the daily mass-goers, the glow of the tabernacle, the welcome warmth of the Church. But above all participating in the Sacrament of the Mass in person is something that gives us strength and sustenance to carry on with our daily lives. Nothing can take away the blessed experience of attending the Mass in person. But at least the online Mass gave one an opportunity to participate in the Mass and receive the Spiritual Communion, if one is not able to attend the Mass in person.

While trying to search for online Mass, during pandemic times, I and many of my fellow Catholics stumbled upon — by serendipity — the Archdiocese of Bombay Daily Mass celebrated by His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias. The effortless manner in which His Eminence expounded upon the Catholic faith during the introduction and homily, explaining in depth about maybe the Saint of the Day or some deep aspect of the faith was inspiring and one got used to this method of learning more about the Catholic faith while participating in the Mass. The homilies were deep and yet delivered in such a simple, personal style that the takeaways from each homily were huge. It became a constant part of one’s routine to tune in to this Mass at 7am daily.

The practise of attending online Mass has continued for many even post the pandemic peak. I have made my own way back to the physical Church, but my dad only attends online Daily Mass these days. Many Catholics find this the way to be connected to the faith in this frenetic 24-hour digital lifestyle.

Therefore, recently, when the Archdiocese of Bombay started reducing the online Daily Mass to thrice a week, it brought some discomfort in me (and I understand many others too). For I had come to rely on catching this Mass online whenever I could not make my way to Daily Mass. It was convenient and accessible over a mobile or computer. It was something I could count on, my rock in these turbulent times. The same format of delivery was so comforting.

I think of many who are cut off from access to physical Churches, like my own son studying in a faraway place away from the City. Online Mass is the only Mass they can attend. I feel we must have more online Masses rather than fewer, it can only strengthen our faith collectively. We must have more and more Indian Catholic sites that are able to stream and broadcast daily Mass online rather than less. This is the way to reach out to the youth, the elderly, and those who really can’t make their way to a Church. There are many Catholic sites outside India that broadcast Masses, but we need more Indian ones as we have a large Indian Catholic population.

The way forward today is digital and we need to be more present digitally -even the Church. Not as a way of reducing participation in physical Mass but as a supplement to it. I wonder what the many elderly would do or others who are used to tuning in at 7am every day for the Archdiocese of Bombay daily Mass. They presumably have not been able to attend Daily Mass in person for health and other reasons. They would no doubt, find an alternate to attend this online Mass. But would it not have been better for the Archdiocese of Bombay to have continued the Daily Online Mass, something that benefitted thousands of Catholics daily, not only in Mumbai, but all over the world? Yes it does take effort to produce an Online Mass, but this effort is rewarded even if one Catholic was able to participate in the Mass — online — and receive the Grace. Maybe if that person was on the verge of taking a decision in a desperate situation, and just maybe, hearing this Online Mass where the Word of God was broken and the Spiritual Communion given, the person would have obtained the necessary wisdom and discernment to know what to do to overcome that situation. Would it not be worth it, the whole effort, even for this one person?

I hope that this article reaches those at the Archdiocese of Bombay and they can rethink the decision. It would benefit all of us. Your Eminence, Oswald Cardinal Gracias, we are so used to welcoming you into our homes every day digitally, that it really had become part of our lives. Wishing that you can come back again to us soon, every day, as in the past.

Online or offline, the importance of attending Mass is brought to mind by this quote:

The best way to economize time is to ‘lose’ half an hour each day attending Holy Mass. — Frederic Ozanam