Abstract

FRANCA, Margarida  and  SANTOS, Clara Almeida. Catholic Communities in a pandemic context. Case study in the city of Coimbra. Sociologia [online]. 2021, n.tematico11, 55.  Epub Feb 17, 2022. ISSN 0872-3419.  https://doi.org/10.21747/08723419/soctem2021a2.

The communities of belonging, particularly those based on religion, define the identity of the territories, as they leave very firm marks on the way they live, use, appropriate or represent the places. The pandemic context related to Covid-19 implied significant adaptations in religious practices and in the relationships of believers with the territory, since in a context of mandatory confinement, part of the relationships between members of the communities to which they belong and also the relation with their sacred and worship places are broken. In the various dimensions of daily life, there is a reorganization of sociability networks and flows of various natures. In this article, based on two surveys in Coimbra (2014 and 2021), we seek to show some of the traits that characterize the multiterritoriality of Catholic communities in an urban context, analysing their behaviour in the city and, at the same time, looking at their adaptability to the current pandemic situation. We conclude that the pandemic has accelerated the use of digital tools that construct new territorialities in the religious experience, detached from the conventional physical space but showing marks of topoligamic multi-territoriality.

Keywords : Catholic communities; Territoriality; digital media; Covid-19.

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