WHILE the Catholic Church has an immense body of members across the country, the coronavirus pandemic has put it in a financial limbo.
As the world’s oldest religious institution with nearly 1.3 billion faithful, the Catholic Church has survived many pandemics throughout the history, but its finances are currently in disarray.
The newly installed parish rector of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral (ICC) in Cotabato City is used to preaching to a full church on scheduled daily and Sunday masses, but for the past 2 months and a half, churchgoers have been locked down in their homes.
Fr. Benjamin Ariel P. Torreto, DCC was installed parish rector on July 5 at the ICC during a morning mass celebrated by Cotabato Archbishop Rev. Angelito R. Lampon, OMI, DD. Fr. Ben was appointed and installed as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Cotabato on September last year.
“There really is quite an impact. The Cathedral has suffered a massive revenue loss, amounting to nearly 50 percent of the regular income that started from the day of the declaration of the lockdown in March and the whole months of April and May,” Fr. Ben said.
As the physical church continued to sit empty during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), so did the collection baskets.
The Cathedral’s source of income, according to Fr. Ben, comes primarily from mass intentions, daily and Sunday mass collections, voluntary donations, special collections intended for the church’s projects and fund raising events led by various religious organizations.
“The absence of daily collection during the lockdown is a significant factor in the decline of the church’s financial status. But the income from several memorial services during the ECQ kept it afloat,” he added.
During the ECQ, the government has limited wakes and burials to families and ministers or officiants for deaths unrelated to COVID-19 as it barred the public from holding mass gatherings. Wakes may only last up to three days, afterwhich the burial follows.
“The the money generated from church activities goes to the maintenance of the building, utilities, bills, office supplies and payroll for the staff,” said Fr. Ben.
The ECQ also forced work in the Cathedral to be suspended but Fr. Ben said they did not implement a no work, no pay policy for the lean staff of the parish.
“Since there are no programs and activities, we did not require the staff to work but all of them were paid in full. The church has reserved money for savings which has helped our cash flow,” he said.
Logistocal challenges in the ‘New Normal’
On June 1, places in Region 12 and in the Bangsamoro region shifted from GCQ to the less restrictive modified general quarantine (MGCQ) where group outdoor activities and public gatherings were allowed provided that public health standards are implemented and observed.
As churches opened again to the public, the ICC, abiding by the rules, has placed markings inside and outside the church. Pews were arranged to accommodate only two persons with 1.5-meter distance in between. Children and young people under 21 years old and senior citizens who are 60 years and older are discouraged from physically going to church.
Wearing of face mask is required and those who enter the church are ushered directly to a hand washing and foot disinfectant corner. Parishioners also have temperature taken with a thermal scanner.
“As people flock again to the Cathedral, we have transitioned well to the New Normal by following the guidelines set by the government. However, this still posts a challenge as the church still has to provide for the logistics such as disinfectants, face masks and other supplies,” said Fr. Ben who is hoping the presence now of churchgoers will help the church bounce back.
Fr. Ben said he does recognize that a lot of people are financially struggling especially with the global economic and employment drop.
“The challenge of the New Normal is that the church is using only 50 percent of its capacity to accommodate the faithful coming in. Although people still give their donations during collections, it is not the usual,” he said adding that it is understandable as people are tightening their belts now.
Recently, Pope Francis created a commission to oversee the churches’ response to the aftermath of the coronavirus. The commission is organized into five task forces, one of which is focused on finances. Part of its mandate is to raise money for assistance to local churches and Catholic organizations struggling because of the pandemic.
However, the ICC may not benefit from this. The Cathedral, as Fr. Ben put it, is a “self-governing and self-sustaining” church.
Drifting away from church
Church life and worship also appears to have been significantly altered by the coronavirus pandemic. In some cases, the lockdown changed and weakened connections. The Pew survey and a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that more of those who had previously attended church regularly were not bothering to watch online services.
“I’m not really regularly attending church before coronavirus,” says Beth Corpuz, 44, “so it hasn’t changed anything. But now I feel less guilty about not going. I thought the pandemic would encourage me to worship more but it hasn’t really done much. However, I found my own time and space for spiritual connection, it just doesn’t happen on Sundays.”
But Andrew Tan, 28, whose church affiliation has been slipping, reacted to the pandemic in the opposite way: with the new yearning to return to the Catholic parish he left. “The good thing about this pandemic is that I got more time to think and realized that I wanted to go back to church. With all the dangers outside, there is God that lives inside and never abandons,” he said.
Fr. Ben explained that the limitations set by the ECQ have hindered people from their usual expression of faith and practice of worship, hence the hunger to receive the sacrament in person.
“This pandemic is just a trial. Do not lose hope. God is still working. Always look at the saving grace of God that is working in you. Nandiyan ang Diyos palagi.” (Valerie Ann P. Lambo)
