Hopes that Masses will be allowed to continue amid semi-lockdown

Experience suggests that the risk of allowing people to attend Mass, subject to proper social distancing, is relatively low, the parish priest of Delvin has said.

Last week, Ireland’s four Catholic archbishops met and have requested the government to allow people to attend Mass under Level 3 of the national plan for living with Covid-19.

“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,” a letter from the Archbishops of Dublin, Cashel and Emly, Tuam and Armagh stated.

Fr Seamus Heaney, PP, Delvin, said that parishes in the Diocese of Meath, including his own, have worked hard in recent months at cleaning, sanitising and ensuring proper social distancing.

“It has been a big disruption for parish life, and it looks like we’re going to have more disruption, so it’s hard to know exactly where we’re going,” said Fr Heaney. “It all depends on what course the virus takes over the coming months.

“What I can say is that we as a parish have made a great effort to implement all measures. As far as I know, no outbreaks have been associated with churches or religious ceremonies.

“People have been well distanced in churches, and things are well organised. So you would say that there doesn’t seem to be great risk to allowing Masses to continue in this way.”

Fr Heaney describes himself as being in the “vulnerable category”, but is taking all precautions. “It’s a strange time. Every aspect of life is affected. No matter what you do, you have to think about every detail,” he says.

Normal parish life has been affected dramatically. Communions and confirmations were postponed, meetings of various groups in the parish called off.

Delvin is also one a unique parish in the diocese of Meath, in that it produces its own annual magazine, chronicling a year in the life of the parish. For the first time since 1987, publication has been postponed, thanks to Covid-19.

“We couldn’t go ahead for the simple reason that a lot of the events we normally feature – Confirmations and Communions – were postponed until later in the year,” said Fr Heaney. “We’d have a lot of school reports, and they would have been difficult to put together. So we wouldn’t have had enough.

“Then there is the difficulty of putting the annual together. But we look forward to getting back on track with publication next year.”