Most of the responses were positive. According to the survey conducted during May, 16% of the 866 respondents watched daily through broadcasts or YouTube. Opinions were sharply divided on using digital devices during Mass.
According to the survey, most respondents thought that watching Mass on TV was ‘a pastoral consideration for the sick, elderly, and those who cannot go to church’ (645 people, 42%). There were many positive responses to TV Mass, such as ‘It is not attending the sacrament, but it is helpful for religious life’ (378 people, 25%) and ‘It is good to watch when attending Sunday Mass is difficult’ (233 people, 15%).
On the other hand, negative responses such as ‘TV Mass should be avoided and Mass should be held in the church’ (137 people, 9%) and ‘It is not a real sacrament, so it is not very meaningful’ (68 people, 4%). There was also an opinion that ‘TV Mass attendance should be gradually strengthened in line with the trend of modern society’ (60 people, 4%).
When asked about the frequency of watching TV Mass, the majority of respondents answered ‘I do not watch it regularly, but I have watched it’ (327 people, 38%) and ‘I watched it regularly during the COVID-19 period, but I do not watch it now’ (218 people, 25%). However, quite a few also watched TV Mass regularly, such as ‘I watch it every day’ (136 people, 16%) and ‘I watch it about once a week’ (114 people, 13%).
The responses were divided when asked about digital device use during Mass. The most common response was, “There are advantages to paper books, but digital devices are more useful” (247 people, 29%), but the opinion that “Digital devices are convenient, but it is better to use paper books” (236 people, 27%) followed with only a slight difference. In addition, 82 people (9%) said, “Using digital devices is distracting, so we should use paper books,” and 74 people (9%) said, “We should avoid paper books and use digital devices in the future.” When adding up the pros and cons, 321 responded in favor and 318 responded against; the number of respondents in favor and against was almost the same.
In response to the question about online media for obtaining information on faith and doctrine, more than half of the respondents (58%, 500 people) answered that they obtain information from websites operated by churches, such as Good News and parish/church websites. 20% (176 people) said that they obtain information on faith and doctrine from YouTube, and 10% said that they obtain information through general portal searches. 51 people (6%) were using SNS such as Facebook and Instagram, 18 people (2%) were using blogs or cafes, and 8 people (1%) were using generative AI such as ChatGPT.
