Streaming religious services have created an endless array of options for the faithful
Courtesy of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
A still from a live-streamed Mass from St. Paul Cathedral of Pittsburgh last Sunday, led by the Rev. Kris Stubna
A still from a video of the the Ash Wednesday services at Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Uniontown in February
Courtesy of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills
A still from the service last Sunday at Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills, with the Rev. Jim Magaw
They were just hours removed from sweeping up the New Year’s confetti on Jan. 2, 1921, when the service from Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood came crackling over the airwaves for the hobbyists who owned primitive radios and tuned in to KDKA.
It was just one of a grab-bag of events and divertissements that the infant radio station would put on the air, along with newscasts, speeches, musical performances and, eventually, baseball games. But it was the first time a religious service was broadcast, allowing people to hear a sermon or recite a prayer when they were not inside the same structure as other worshippers.
A century later, a smaller proportion of Americans are members of churches or synagogues, but their opportunities to watch or listen to religious services on their televisions, radios, laptops, virtual assistants or phones have exploded. It’s now possible to listen to the Gospel of Mark while you’re taking a Sunday morning jog or watch a minister lead a congregation in the Nicene Creed while you’re heating your coffee or spreading jam on your toast. Churches that made their services available online due to the coronavirus pandemic have largely continued to stream them, expanding their reach to any corner of the globe.
Christian houses of worship are, of course, not alone in this pursuit. Practitioners of Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, Hinduism and a whole range of other religions can find services with just a couple of clicks of a mouse or pushes of remote buttons.
But even if it’s now possible to watch Palm Sunday services at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, while you’re in St. Paul, Minn., the proliferation of ways for people to hear and see religious services has raised questions about how committed distant congregants are, how much they are actually getting out of the services and whether fewer bodies in pews means fewer dollars being placed in the collection plate.
The Rev. Erik Hoeke, pastor of Avery United Methodist Church in Washington, admits “there can be a significant financial downside” when services are online. Giving online can increase, he noted, but then there can be an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality that takes over when a collection plate is not being passed in front of you.
Also, Hoeke explained that building a sense of community around a church and its activities can be difficult “when half the congregation is in church and half is watching online.”
In the decades following that first broadcast from Calvary Episcopal Church, scores of other ministers took to the radio, and some became as famous and familiar as movie stars or sports heroes. The Rev. Charles Coughlin, the suburban Detroit Catholic priest whose fiery radio commentaries in the 1930s stirred controversy for their antisemitic overtones and apparent support for fascism abroad, was heard by an estimated 30 million listeners every week at the height of his popularity and influence. As the cooler medium of television gained prominence in the 1950s and beyond, comforting and genial figures like the Catholic priest Fulton Sheen found admirers throughout the country.
In the 1960s, many television markets began airing their own “Mass for Shut-Ins” programs that gave parishioners who were too sick or infirm to attend a church service the opportunity to watch in their living rooms or hospital beds. The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh marked the 31st anniversary last month of its daily broadcasts from St. Paul Cathedral, both online and on cable television, which were started as a way to reach homebound believers. The equipment used for the services is now digital, and cameras are operated remotely. A group of 11 volunteers work behind the scenes on the broadcasts.
The Rev. Kris Stubna, the rector of St. Paul, explained in a news release, “These televised Masses keep our cathedral parish connected, joined in prayer as a faith family. While the pandemic kept us isolated in other ways, it brought new people to us, whether from around the corner or around the world.”
Many churches, both Catholic and otherwise, began streaming services online when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its depths and gatherings of people in any setting were either severely restricted or prohibited. Hoeke said that some members of his church have continued to watch online and have not returned to in-person services, while others were first exposed to his church online and now attend in person.
“It has been beneficial but something is lost,” Hoeke said. “It becomes easier to treat church as something you consume rather than something you participate in.”
At Uniontown’s Trinity United Presbyterian Church, services were put online in 2020 due to the pandemic, and when the church’s doors were closed, as many as 600 or 700 people watched every Sunday. Those numbers have slipped well into the double digits as restrictions have fallen away, according to the Rev. Jim Gear, Trinity’s pastor. But they are going to continue placing services online, and adding other platforms. Gear sees it as “advertising option,” and a way for people to see what the church has to offer.
In a stroke of fortuitous timing, the Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills in Mt. Lebanon started streaming its services in November 2019, about three months before COVID-19 arrived in the United States. “We were glad that we had started, so we didn’t have such a learning curve,” according to the Rev. Jim Magaw, minister of the church.
Right now, his church is in what Magaw describes as a “transition period,” with some members returning to in-person services, while others are still uncomfortable with the idea. A mask mandate for services was just recently lifted. Like the viewers of “Mass for Shut-Ins,” some older members have continued to watch online because it’s harder for them to get to services.
On the upside, the church added 14 members whose first exposure was by watching online.
“It was the way a number of people came to the congregation for the first time, by watching online,” Magaw said.