Post-pandemic, is it well with our souls?
IT SEEMS clear that the Covid-19 virus has not obligingly ‘gone away’. That said, ‘Covid’ does not at present dominate national consciousness and discourse in Ireland as it did for the first two and a half years of this decade. However, experiencing the pandemic in whatever way unquestionably affected the physical and mental wellbeing of many people throughout the island, and some of the trauma has endured. Both the physical and psychological legacies of the pandemic are being carefully studied as necessary areas for investigation.
As for what might have been the spiritual effects of experiencing the pandemic on ‘church people’, this too is of significance, although for a more limited clientele. It appears that very little research in this area has yet been carried out in Ireland, though there have been a number of useful studies in Britain, hence my decision to conduct a survey in the Church of Ireland.
* Full article available in printed copies.
Richard Clarke
Was Archbishop of Armagh (2012 - 2000) and formerly Bishop of Meath and Kildare. He continues to research and write in retirement.