Archbishop Michael Neary stands in front of the Pilgrim Statue from Knock Shrine in situ in St Peters Basilica prior to the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis for the first Sunday of the Word of God.
Photo: Sinéad Mallee 
Archbishop Michael Neary has praised the hard work of all involved in restarting public Masses and “warmly welcomed” the new detailed guidance from the Government regarding Masses.
Following the news that Masses could resume, Archbishop Neary said that “teams of volunteers have been trained, churches have been prepared and marked out according to social distancing guidelines, and hand-sanitising stations have been sourced”.
He continued, saying: “I am grateful for this ‘Herculean effort’ that sees us ready now to resume the sacramental life of the church in line with the guidance published by government.”
Archbishop Neary said the cancellation of Masses was hard for priests and parishioners everywhere, and news of their resuming was met with “relief and joy”.
“The reality is that our people have been unable to attend Mass or receive Holy Communion for more than three months now,” he said.
The archbishop said that he “warmly welcomed” the Government’s new guidelines, describing them as being “clear and practical and very helpful”.
Archbishop Neary also recognised the hard work that parish teams put in under lockdown: “Parish teams quickly responded to the situation in the most imaginative of ways, and full use was made of social media platforms, webcams and parish radio systems.”
