COVID-19 pandemic takes a toll on places of worship

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — For the first time in 80 years, according to a Gallup survey, most Americans do not belong to a house of worship. The numbers have been in decline for years and now, because of the pandemic, thousands of houses of worship could close for good.

Research firm, Barna Group, estimates in-person church attendance is 30% to 50% lower than the numbers recorded before the pandemic.

“We normally live our lives in an ocean and the pandemic has made everything so much smaller,” said Rev. Jim Curran who is the pastor of The Basilica of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Downtown Norfolk.

Gone are the crowds who filled pews for Sunday services; gone are the scores of mourners who attended funerals; for some, gone is the warmth of in-person fellowship that is desperately needed in a time of global turmoil.

“After being in existence for just a year-like boom, it was a shock and suddenly our world turned upside down,” said Rabbi Israel Zoberman who is the founder of Lev Tikvah.

It is a pandemic that does not discriminate. Leaders of all faiths have made major adjustments amid closures, crowd restrictions, and mask mandates.

“It has changed our teaching ministry, it has changed our fellowship, it has changed everything that we do.”

“We reopened in March of 2021 and what we have seen is that there has not been a full return of the congregation back to in-person worship,” said Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Gunns who is the pastor of Second Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk. “We have a large number of people who are worshipping virtually and I’ve shared with pastors that you can expect that a number of your people will not be coming back to in-person worship.”

As the pandemic enters its third year, there are warnings that 1 in five places of worship could close for good.

“Statistics say that 15,000 churches in North America will close,” echoed Bishop Kim W. Brown, who is the Presiding Prelate of The Mount Global Fellowship of Churches.

Here in Hampton Roads, some places of worship are defying the odds. The Mount, with 8 brick and mortar locations now has a ninth location called the Mount Virtual which is a product of the pandemic.

“On New Year’s Eve, we did a two-hour production and preached four points to my sermon. Each one of the points was in a different geographic location, says Bishop Brown. “Point one was in Atlanta, Georgia, point two was at the Langely Speedway, point three was in a bank, and point four was in my backyard. The audience was 25-thousand people on six continents.”

Bishop Brown says the pandemic minimizes the walls of the church while expanding the reach of the church.

“Someone who is a church consultant for us said COVID has compressed ten years of change into the church. We just rolled out a new platform that allows you to sit beside people you want to sit beside in virtual church and it allows you to interact with those people, the Bishop boasted.

At Unity Renaissance in Chesapeake during the first year of the pandemic, the church received its highest-ever amount of contributions. It was enough to build a million-dollar expansion that includes space where tutoring services are offered to children who fell behind during the pandemic.

“We navigated through the hardest of those times when being back together was one of the most joyous days I have ever experienced in my life.”  

The years, 164 of them, have included 6 pandemics at the current location of The Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. Father Jim Curran looks forward to the day when the entire flock will return.

“This church was closed for almost five years [for renovation] and when we moved back, it was during the pandemic. So, I have yet to see this church full,” said Pastor, Rev. Jim Curran.

As it appears, the pandemic could reach endemic status later this year, Father Curran has this assessment of how a global health crisis has affected mankind.

“We normally live our lives in an ocean and the pandemic has made everything so much smaller. The slightest little ripple in that pond can seem like a tsunami and I think that’s what we see happening,” says Father Curran. “Everything, even the mask mandates with critical race theory… you grab onto one thing and it becomes everything because everything is so small now; it’s so isolated.”

Rev. Curran says when we can expand our living space- where we exist- then everything expands.

“I think that’s going to take some time, but I think we will because that’s what we do; human beings are remarkably adaptive, Rev. Curran said.