Cardus is on a quest to comprehensively uncover why Canadian Christian communities are naturally equipped and adept at addressing social isolation and loneliness.

According to Statistics Canada data from 2024, 48.1 per cent of the population either “sometimes feels lonely” or “always or often feels lonely.”

The non-partisan Christian think tank, headquartered in Ottawa, expects to receive in-depth quantitative and qualitative data from a host of houses of worship by April 26 to see why church communities are able to foster the sense of community to combat loneliness.

“There's very minimal research out there that enables us to unpack the mechanisms and the specific ways that faith communities operate that help to respond to and protect people from these challenges,” said Rebecca Vachon, Cardus’ health program director. “What was striking for me is that we don't see much official or documented appreciation for just the sheer amount of work  done by faith communities in response to these issues.” 

Cardus’ health and faith program's team members will delve into the replies, synthesize the findings into a detailed report and then publish the research by the end of 2025.

Vachon previewed one of the key queries asked of the parishes and congregations.

“One of the questions we're asking is about what kind of barriers churches are experiencing when trying to address isolation (and) loneliness,” said Vachon. “And I'm really looking forward to digging into those responses to help better inform resources that community organizations can produce and (identify) opportunities for faith communities to collaborate.

“(It) helps me to address some of those needs as well (by) specifically making recommendations to policymakers on ways that they can support and hopefully not impede the really important work of churches.” 

Cardus is requesting church communities identify all their general programs “which may contribute to building community and alleviating social isolation and loneliness, even if not directly.” Congregations are also asked to “provide a list of partnerships with other organizations, parishes and groups” that may help tackle those aforementioned problems.

The pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, elder, deacon or lay leader  entrusted to fill out the survey will also be asked to identify by percentage the extent of people in their church community they believe are socially isolated and/or lonely.

On April 15, Vachon and Cardus Faith Communities intern Micah Allatt released a background paper to shed light on the current isolation and loneliness landscape in Canada and to outline some of the apparent strengths of church communities in grappling with this pressing matter.

Vachon and Allatt outline some of the detrimental health impacts separateness can have on an individual. Seclusion, they say, “may contribute to fewer social contacts who can monitor or initiate interventions for health needs, as well as reduced contact with health-care providers and lower adherence to taking medication or other medical treatments, therapies and so forth.” Additionally, they cite sources that suggest loneliness increases mortality risk, increases risk factors for Alzheimer’s and other dementias and worsens the immune system.

The background paper also charts how 22.1 per cent of people who requested euthanasia in 2023 reported feelings of isolation and loneliness, a significant rise from 13.7 per cent in 2019.

Cardus outlined in this introductory report that faith communities offer prayer groups, after-Mass coffees and socials, community outreach and lay associations as just some of its methods to foster a sense of fellowship. Vachon and Allatt also pinpointed that some congregations are investing time and effort in parish nursing to address isolation and loneliness.

“A lot of the work of faith communities is not even necessarily like a strategic response per se to this public health problem, but just is the function of who they are as a Christian community,” said Vachon. “It's their response to the Gospel. It's their response to loving one another.”

Read the background paper online at cardus.ca.