As reported in the Irish Times:
The four Catholic archbishops of Ireland have requested a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin to address concerns about the loss of mass services during Covid-19 restrictions.
Under Level 3 all religious services must move online, although places of worship can remain open for private prayer.
However, a letter from the Archbishops points out that communal celebration of Mass and the Sacraments, even with restricted numbers, “is at the very heart of what it means for us to be a Christian community”.
“We wish to engage constructively with the civil authorities to ensure that our people have continued access to the support of Mass and the Sacraments and essential spiritual nourishment for these challenging times,” it says.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/catholic-archbishops-request-meeting-with-taoiseach-about-loss-of-mass-services-1.4376119
The Bishops have been slow to raise this call but I am glad they have. The Church has put a massive effort into making sure that Mass is safe, and I am sure more efforts can be made if required.
Many Catholic churches are massive buildings with multiple entrances and exits, than can, normally, hold many hundreds of people. I think Mass is perfectly safe to go ahead in buildings like these with a limited number of people attending, with assigned seating etc. in place to ensure physical distancing, and masks. Churches are already set up like this and have been operating safely. Certainly far safer than schools!
For many people communal religious worship is an "essential". This is especially the case for Catholics as due to the nature of the Mass, "virtual" or online attendance is no substitute. This is recognized in essentially every other country where attending Mass is not effectively banned. Ireland is certainly an outlier in this regard.
Hopefully the Archbishops will be successful in persuading the government, I think we should all support their efforts. I would encourage people to lobby their local TDs about it.
