Ruadhán Jones and Jason Osborne
Bishops have warned that they “won’t be able to bring people with us” unless the Government heeds the calls of the faithful for a return of public worship.
All public worship is banned under levels 3 to 5 – as it stands, following the six-week lockdown the country is expected to return to level 3 which means Masses will still not restart.
Bishop Kevin Doran criticised the lack of serious consideration given by the Government to the rights and needs of the Faithful.
“There seems to be no awareness that people are not just material organisms, that we are also spiritual and our spiritual health also needs to be nourished and for most practicing Catholics that comes from gathering together to listen to the word of God and to take part in Communion,” he told The Irish Catholic.
Bishop Doran questioned why there is no “graduated approach” to public worship, in line with the five levels proposed by Government.
“We can accept that the churches can be closed for public worship in extreme circumstances such as level 5,” Dr Doran said. “But why does that same level of closure apply at level 3? The point that we made as bishops when we met together was that our coming together isn’t simply a gathering, it’s a part of actually what constitutes us as the People of God.”
‘Dismissive’
Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has also been critical of the Government’s approach to public worship, describing it as “dismissive”.
“After trojan work on behalf of priests and people to make our church buildings ultra-safe with regard to Covid-19, the Faithful are again prevented from going to Mass,” the bishop of Waterford and Lismore said. “The reasoning for this has not been given in any adequate way. A dismissive one-liner is not good enough.”
Bishop Cullinan said that the restrictions are causing “huge frustration among people of faith because they feel prevented from worshipping as they need to”.
He added that while the Government has a very difficult job, “it must hear the message loud and clear that lockdown is crushing many people including people of faith who believe that the practice of one’s faith in public is an essential service”. “I believe that we in the Church, have taken these restrictions far too easily and have not paid sufficient attention to the huge cost of these restrictions for ordinary people in different ways – spiritually, mentally and economically.”
Meanwhile, the homily of an Irish priest has gone viral after he decried the denial of the Irish people’s right to worship.
“With the stroke of a pen, the Government can abolish that [right to worship],” Fr Seán Mulligan of Carrickmacross, Co. Monagahan told The Irish Catholic.
“A lot of people have been expressing concern for what’s happening. Many people have their whole life centred around the sacraments, and that’s been taken from them.”
Attention
Though Fr Mulligan’s homily has spread widely, he says that ultimately it will be down to the work of the bishops to bring this to the Government’s attention.
“They’re not going to listen to me, a priest in Carrickmacross.
“We need that voice coming from the bishops, the authority in the Church,” he said. “They are the shepherds.”
