Chai Brady
Photo: PA Image An Irish priest would be prepared to die rather than leave the Faithful in Hong Kong despite the Covid-19 (coronavirus) scare, leading to all Church services in Hong Kong being cancelled.
Fr Michael Cuddigan SSC of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel in Central, Hong Kong, said despite increased tensions regarding Covid-19 he won’t be leaving.
“Listen, like all missionaries I’ve been through my dangerous moments in the past, so you just live with what’s what and don’t get too excited. We’ve all got to die sometime,” he told The Irish Catholic.
Hope
Fr Cuddigan spent over three decades in the Philippines before Hong Kong. Regarding missionaries leaving he said: “Missionaries don’t tend to leave their post, because if they leave their post then the local people can lose hope. I saw that happen many times in the southern Philippines in the 70s in the Muslim-Christian conflict.”
“We don’t know if it’s going to increase or decrease, one moment they say it’s decreasing, another moment it’s increasing, it’s a wait and see game. We’re all going around with our masks and washing our hands with alcohol and so on, we just don’t know what the future will be.”
The Diocese of Hong Kong has issued a general dispensation from Mass obligation to help the Faithful avoid public gatherings and stem coronavirus infections.
The diocese announced the suspension of public Masses on Sundays and weekdays from February 15-28, and cancelled the Ash Wednesday liturgy that marks the beginning of the Lenten season.
“There are no Masses in all the churches but people can still come and pray,” said Fr Cuddigan. “There’s concern for everybody because there has been a number of cases already, but very often these are people who have been in China who brought it back.”
New cases
The number of new Covid-19 cases in mainland China fell below 2,000 for the first time since January but the virus remains far from contained.
At the time this paper went to print the total death toll stood at 1,873 according to the National Health Commission. There were 1,886 new confirmed infections which brings the total to 72,436. There have been 45 confirmed cases of the infection in Europe.
There are currently strict restrictions on movement in China, particularly in the city of Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak. The director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, Liu Zhiming, died this week as a result of the virus. He is the seventh health worker to fall victim.