Pastoral Care at the Time of Lockdown: An Exploratory Study of the Catholic Church in South Tyrol (Italy)

Abstract In order to assess the impact of covid-19 on catholic pastoral care, an exploratory study was conducted in South Tyrol (Italy) by administering an online survey to parish priests and laypeople with an office within the local Diocese. With reference to the lockdown period, the research aimed to investigate: (1) how pastoral care was delivered; (2) changes in the use of ict within religious activities; and (3) the vision of the future for the Church in a mediatized world. Respondents believe that: (1) pastoral activities have slowed down, even though contact with the faithful was kept up through phone or the Internet; (2) the level of digitalization of the parishes has increased; however, the communication was mostly one-way and top-down. Finally, results show that (3) attitudes towards digital media are divergent: they are perceived as having the potential to either strengthen or weaken the relationship between the Church and the faithful.