Breda O'Brien
Parishioners attend the Easter Vigil Mass in the Church of Christ the King, Strathroy, Omagh, Co. Tyrone. 
The View
Predicting the future is a mug’s game. For example, anyone who predicted in December 2019 that the world would be battling a global pandemic for the following two years would have been encouraged to go and have a little lie-down.
The folly of predictions notwithstanding, in the year 2000, I agreed to take part in an RTÉ television programme which was to be broadcast in 2020, but to the best of my knowledge, never was. The programme’s premise was simple. Gather a bunch of commentators, academics and others together and get them to predict what the world would be like in 2020. Given what 2020 actually turned out to be like, it is even less surprising that it was never broadcast.
RTÉ made the bad mistake of showing us a programme made in 1980 for broadcast in 2000, which was so painfully off the mark that we were all stunned into silence. I do remember very clearly what my prediction or more accurately, my expressed hope was – that we would find a more mature way to converse about faith in the public arena and that conversations about religion would be less polarising.
Innocence
Oh, the innocence of it all. Things have deteriorated to an astonishing degree since then and we are further away than ever from a mature ability to discuss matters of faith in the public square.
In fact, since the pandemic started, the only religious ceremonies (which incidentally, also have humanist and secular counterparts) deemed worthy of celebration are weddings and funerals. During the highest level of lockdown, the numbers allowed even for these ceremonies are very low.
This flies in the face of the right to religious freedom. The United Nations website lists eleven different UN Treaties which are relevant to the question of freedom of religion and belief, and that is before we mention Council of Europe and EU charters and conventions. In Ireland, however, the freedom to worship is treated as something of little significance, which will not be restored until we are back at level 2.
Prediction
It does not require particular skills of prediction to see that this has serious implications for Church-State relations in the future. By and large, the Christian Churches have meekly accepted the State’s dictats, even though they are seriously out of step with the rest of Europe, and even the world.
It is one thing for religions to take conscientious and voluntary decisions to restrict numbers and sometimes, even to close places of worship entirely. It is another to have the State dictate when people can worship.
It sets a precedent and because the Catholic Church, in particular, has been relatively meek in its response, it will embolden the State when it comes to other issues, such as school patronage and imposing curricula which are at odds with Christian ethos. There is already creeping secularisation in our schools and this will only intensify. What are the Churches to do?
We must prepare for when the churches do re-open. The Archbishop of Dublin has announced a task force on the future of the Church. This has the potential to enter into the kind of discussions which are long overdue, about how we can build real Christian communities in the face of significant cultural opposition.
Unless the Faith is transmitted in the home, schools are helpless. They can only reinforce what is found at home. On rare occasions, schools can spark faith in those who grow up without it, but this is unusual.
We have an adult population who have received very little religious education. It is very common for people, just to take one example, to say that those who have died are now angels, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of life after death.
The harsh experiences of Covid-19 have shown one thing. Online seminars are often much better attended than live events. In the future, once the pandemic is over, adult education should capitalise on this but not ignore live gatherings. One very viable model would be to have four talks or seminars online followed by a social occasion where people can meet in the real world for discussion and social contact.
Housebound
While livestreaming will continue to be important for the housebound, we should really encourage in-person attendance for everyone who can, once the pandemic is over. We should also increase the amount of daily prayer opportunities available online.
Laypeople must make the importance of respect for their faith known to public representatives and in public fora whenever the opportunity arises. Politicians are generally reactive rather than proactive. They will continue to see religion as a hobby until people make it clear that it is, instead, central to people’s lives.
We will never have a mature and respectful dialogue unless we make it clear that religious freedom is not optional, but a fundamental human right.
