KMT 2021 nr 3 Download PDF

The online broadcasting of liturgical services on the agenda of Catholic weekly magazines „Gość Niedzielny” and „Niedziela” during the first and second wave of the coronavirus pandemic (February – December 2020). Media studies research

Cite: , Transmisje nabożeństw liturgicznych w agendzie tygodników „Gość Niedzielny” i „Niedziela” w okresie pierwszej i drugiej fali pandemii koronawirusa (luty – grudzień 2020 r.). Studium medioznawcze, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2021( 46) nr 3, s. 44-77.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.46.3

The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on the number of believers in churches gave rise to a new phenomenon, previously unknown on such a large scale in religious communication – online broadcasts of the Mass in various forms: on the websites of individual dioceses, parishes, Polish Episcopate, Catholic magazines and websites, and finally live streaming in social media. The aim of this article was to investigate how during the first wave of the pandemic (February-December 2020), the two largest national Catholic church weeklies: „Gość Niedzielny” and „Niedziela”, informed about this and about the problems related to it. The research method was adopted: quantitative and qualitative content analysis. An auxiliary method of analyzing the context of press discourse was also used. For the purposes of the study, a categorization key was developed and a questionnaire was prepared. The texts published during the research period in „Gość Niedzielny” and „Niedziela” show an unambiguous message: that the online broadcast of the Mass is not the same as actual participation in the Eucharist, it is only a transitional form, permissible during the dispensation in force, under exceptional circumstances, to which the Church passed the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative analysis also shows the dependence of the coexistence of journalistic texts with the publication of church documents regarding the dispensation and online transmission of the Mass.

About authors

dr Milena Kindziuk

ORCID: 0000-0001-5435-2907