Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler The Minister for Mental Health has warned about the negative consequences of prolonged restrictions on Mass and other religious ceremonies.
Minister Mary Butler told The Irish Catholic that she is “positive and hopeful for a re-opening of churches [for liturgy] soon.”
“I’ve discussed how important Mass is for the older generation with the Taoiseach…I’m very, very hopeful people will be able to return to church to worship soon,” she said.
However, the minister declined to set a deadline of Easter insisting that such a return is contingent on various factors. “It would be remiss of me to say Mass will be back by Easter, as there are three things that have to be satisfied for that to happen”. She cited a continued reduction in the level of transmission, the number of hospitalisations and the rollout of the vaccines as factors.
“I am a weekly Mass-goer and I would love to be able to go back to Mass. I know such attendance is a comfort for many people, regardless of their religious ethos,” Minister Butler said.
She said that “the churches have been fantastic at keeping people socially distanced”. However, Minister Butler warned that: “The challenge is people meeting before and after Mass.
“The movement of people is what we’re concerned with,” she said.
Meanwhile, The Irish Catholic understands that Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin was amongst religious leaders who met with Government officials late last week to press the case for restrictions around worship to be relaxed in line with the continuing fall in cases in the Republic and a promised acceleration of the vaccine rollout.
This newspaper understands that Dr Farrell expressed concern about how early restrictions on public worship take effect in the current Government plan on living with Covid-19.
A source familiar with the online meeting with officials in the Department of the Taoiseach said that the archbishop pressed the case for a more generous approach to public worship as restrictions are eased and asked that a ban on public Mass not be imposed so early in the plan.
Currently, the roadmap outlines that public worship only be permitted under level one and level two. However, an exception was made permitting Mass under level three in December.