Abstract
This is a qualitative study into the changes in space, memory, and faith expressions of the parish church community of Binmaley, Pangasinan due to COVID-19 public guidelines. Through interviews and fieldwork with the community, the study recognizes the parish as thirdspace. Interpreting Soja’s thirdspace, the trialectic of spatiality-historicality-sociality, the study denotes spatiality as space, historicality as memory, and sociality as faith expressions. With space as the starting point, the study looks into how COVID-19 guidelines affected the way people remembered and experienced the parish church. In terms of space, the parish church functioned as religious space (center of faith) and public space (center of community). With the pandemic, the parish church as space was decentralized—accessed from a distance or through digital screens. In terms of memory, the parish church was seen as community and sacred space. During the pandemic, the parish church as memory has shifted to smaller units (individual or family) and to a distanced/distracting space (e.g., outdoors or at home). In faith expressions, the individual often expresses their faith as working towards an individual need (penance or blessing). On the other hand, the community expresses its own faith as a way to respond to God’s call. Both convey their faith proactively. With the pandemic, both faith expressions—individual and communal—felt too passive for the respondents. Socially distanced and online/virtual religious practices have stripped respondents of their initiative and duty. In the end, respondents claimed an “incomplete” experience of religion during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presenters
Rizelle DiazStudent, Master of Arts in Philippine Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Filipino Catholicism, Pangasinan, Rural sociology, Thirdspace
