|
|
Post by cato on May 22, 2020 15:50:55 GMT
As Europe gradually reopens Ireland's bishops have been remarkably tardy at requesting Churches reopen. As things stand we will not have public Sunday Mass until mid July.
David Quinn has been querying this small c conservative attitude in print and social media and compares it to churches elsewhere which are gradually reopening quicker.
Two related explanations come to mind. The current lockdown is widely popular among Irish people who would normally pride themselves as being unconventional. There is an irrational fear around even among low risk groups who do make up the bulk of the population. Green Geansai groupthink is back with a vengeance and woe betide anyone criticising or querying it in public.
People are seriously demanding a no risk future before they reemerge into normality. This is simply nuts. Life is always full of risks and life is ultimately terminal. A myth exists that the state will protect us all and that we can painlessly borrow our way out of this mess.
The second reason is the greying of the clergy and laity. That cohort is most at risk and some of the faithful can be rather silly and short sighted when it comes to preventing infection. I know it conflicts with 20th century liturgical practice but dropping the communion of the faithful would reduce risks significantly. For the bulk of Christian history infrequent (once or twice a year) communion was the norm.
An old church is bad news. The Irish Church looks like it will collapse further in numbers in a decade or less . Covid hasn't caused this. It has only sped it up. That old church is naturally cautious but fear can freeze and paralyse us too.
|
|
|
|
Post by cato on May 28, 2020 16:11:39 GMT
Italy the epicentre of the Covid plaque and the scene of horrendous life and death decisions about who to save and who to die in hospitals , is now allowing public masses.
In Ireland under current plans we will be waiting another 7 weeks for mass.
The archbishop of Dublin today condemned a priest who had been unofficially allowing small groups to attend mass generally under 40 in a huge church building. Some one snitched on them to the authorities and the archbishops crozier came crashing down. Who says we don't have strong churchmen anymore?
I wonder if the state ever decides to restrict religious expression for some other reason will the bishops object? No need to answer that one.
|
|
|
|
Post by Séamus on May 29, 2020 9:04:23 GMT
Italy the epicentre of the Covid plaque and the scene of horrendous life and death decisions about who to save and who to die in hospitals , is now allowing public masses. In Ireland under current plans we will be waiting another 7 weeks for mass. The archbishop of Dublin today condemned a priest who had been unofficially allowing small groups to attend mass generally under 40 in a huge church building. Some one snitched on them to the authorities and the archbishops crozier came crashing down. Who says we don't have strong churchmen anymore? I wonder if the state ever decides to restrict religious expression for some other reason will the bishops object? No need to answer that one. There might be a small comfort in noting a fellow-sufferer Church of England minister who has written an article castigating his own leadership;among other things Rev George Pitcher remarked "however badly government ministers mismanage a crisis,leaders of the Church of England can be relied upon to handle it even worse....the Government's lockdown became the Church's lockup. By early April bishops seemed gripped by a contest to ban their flocks from collective worship,in some cases telling their vicars that they couldn't step foot in their own churches- even alone- on Easter Sunday. This applied if the house of God was an extension of their own,with an adjoining door.... even though the government [Britain] hadn't ruled out private prayer in church...Perhaps this meant we should get out of church and visit the sick and the dying? Not so- because the bishops banned us from sitting beside hospital beds and visiting hospices. I still can't find the Gospel provenance for that ruling..." Without knowing much about Anglican canonical measures,I'd imagine Rev is a fairly braveish man. Three miracles approved by Francis this year might be worth reflection. One clears the way for the canonization of Charles deFoucauld,featured generously in Mr Maolsheachlann's book, who served God largely in a solitude which came to fruition after the seed died,in this case, himself. Shortly before spirituality-through-the-screen became the staple for many this year,His Holiness approved one for the beatification of Charles Acutis who jumped on this bandwagon early in his short life,his religious websites can already be considered classics,if that's at all possible;and also for Fr Michael McGivney...who,coming from an Irish background,is sure to be another intercessor for the race. |
|
|
|
Post by cato on Jun 7, 2020 8:43:52 GMT
It now looks like we will be resuming public masses in Ireland on June 29th. I earnestly hope things will not be delayed by a second wave of Covid Infections brought about by anti racist demonstrators failing to observe social distancing recommendations.
This is good news.
|
|
|
|
Post by cato on Jun 22, 2020 16:45:38 GMT
The state is now insisting that church services will be limited to a maximum of 50 people no matter how big the church Is. This is simply silly and is another example of why central planning never works in practice.
On a more fundamental level it is deeply unfortunate that the state is now in the business of limiting and restricting churches internal worship. With the state increasingly dictating to Churches that hospitals and schools have to modify their ethos or lose funding we are ironically seeing church and state becoming more aligned in reality even as that state becomes more hostile to traditional Christianity.
The oft expressed fear of recent popes that the church may become another NGO seems to becoming true.
|
|
|
|
Post by Séamus on Jun 25, 2020 0:45:43 GMT
The state is now insisting that church services will be limited to a maximum of 50 people no matter how big the church Is. This is simply silly and is another example of why central planning never works in practice. On a more fundamental level it is deeply unfortunate that the state is now in the business of limiting and restricting churches internal worship. With the state increasingly dictating to Churches that hospitals and schools have to modify their ethos or lose funding we are ironically seeing church and state becoming more aligned in reality even as that state becomes more hostile to traditional Christianity. The oft expressed fear of recent popes that the church may become another NGO seems to becoming true. Western Australia started off with 20, then 50,without the advantage that Dublin has of many churches in proximity to the city centre. The difference in response was striking- some places wiling to have extra masses or distributing Communion outside of mass for the extra number;other parishes thought it all too hard and stayed closed at that point. Almost like the Parable of the ten talents. One could castigate priests in particular,but it often depends on the effort of others also. I happened to be reading the Knox translation of St John's Day's lesson yesterday (Isaiah) which, unusually,reads "whispers, thou art the servant",rather than simply "said"...a good reflection for laity,who experience their role in an unnoticed whisper rather than an obvious call. |
|
