Less money given to churches during pandemic

This is reported by the Spanish Catholic News Agency.

Bishop Joseba Segura, Bishop of Bilbao and head of the Secretariat for the Sustaining of the Spanish Church, assured that there had been an “economic impact” due to the pandemic.

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, churches in Spain were closed a quarter of the days of the year. Subsequently, the capacity for celebrations was very restricted.

Bishop Joseba Segura explained that “the support of the Church has to do with the religious experience. I cannot attract a young person to collaborate with the Church if first I cannot introduce him to the value of what the religious and spiritual dimension entails. The issue of social commitment is linked and is a consequence of the experience of faith and community that the person lives”.

Archbishop Segura affirmed that the donations represent two-thirds of the total financing of the Church in Spain. At the same time, the remaining third is obtained through the proceeds from the Income declaration box.

The return of the faithful to the churches and the increase in capacity during the celebrations has resulted in “a clear recovery” of the donations received.

Across Europe, churches have been struggling to cope with a decrease in people who attend services. In some Swiss churches, only two-thirds of the budgeted amount of money was collected.

However, not all churches see a decline in income due to corona. In a recently held survey by Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad, churches in the Netherlands even saw an increase. People who could not attend a physical church service and therefore donated digitally chose a higher amount than they usually put in the collection bag.