This week, a group of young people from the ‘We Need Worship’ campaign released a video calling on the government to consider reopening churches and places of worship. It comes as businessman Declan Ganley launches a case in the High Court seeking to overturn the ban on worship currently in place under level five restrictions. Following […]
The Irish government will not be lifting a ban on public worship services over the coming weeks after five Catholic bishops met with Taoiseach Micheál Martin last night.
Ten days ago the Catholic Archbishops of Ireland requested to meet Taoiseach Micheál Martin to see if Mass could be celebrated publicly during Covid-19 restrictions. Faithful Catholics around Ireland, upset at being deprived of Mass, were encouraged by the Archbishops’ show of leadership. Others, though, questioned their intervention on the basis that religion isn’t deserving […]
Let me just lay my cards on the table straight away; the absence of leadership, and the utter failure of the Catholic Bishops to collectively challenge the restrictions on public worship in this state has been, at best, a mystery and at worst an absolute scandal. Nowhere in Europe have we seen such unreflective capitulation […]
Independent TD for Laois Offaly Carol Nolan has said that churches feel “singled out” as a target for stricter application of the social distancing rules. Deputy Nolan says she has written to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, urging that a far greater level of discretion be given to individual […]
If you can remember that long ago, the only protesters defying Covid-19 lockdowns in the United States were small crowds of roughnecks from flyover country waving flags and brandishing placards at State capitals. Nonetheless, petty incidents like this still outraged bioethicists and public health experts. Writing in PennLive, a Pennsylvania blog, four of them, including the […]
The Iona Institute has said that Ireland will be one of the last countries in Europe to restore public worship. While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, other European countries are allowing public worship again much sooner. In fact, this country seem to be one of the last to restore […]
While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, the Italian government has announced that celebrations in churches will resume from May 18th. After a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives, this week the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by […]
I will be the first one to hold up my hands and say I wanted a lockdown too. I used the #stayathome #staysafe #quaranteam hashtags that began floating around only a number of weeks ago. I bombarded friends of mine with messages regarding staying home and staying safe. I panic bought Vitamin C and other […]
The phrase ‘missing Mass’ used to refer to non-attendance at Sunday Mass and was a serious omission for any Catholic. If it was habitual it could lead to a call from the local priest. Today that would be represented as clerical policing rather than an act of pastoral outreach. In fact, in a homogeneous religious […]
Families who lose a loved one during the Coronavirus crisis should be offered the opportunity of a church funeral under strict conditions, a senior church figure has said. Bishop of Derry, Dónal McKeown, also told the Irish News that churches should be allowed to open for places of private prayer during the coronavirus crisis, saying […]
Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan celebrated Mass on the ancient monastic site of St Declan in Ardmore, Co. Waterford yesterday.