Ruadhán Jones
Bishop Kevin Doran has criticised the “narrow circumscription” of priests’ public ministry under the current travel regulations.
The regulations mean that pizza deliverers and bicycle engineers have more freedom to work than priests, the bishop of Elphin said.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Bishop Doran said that there’s an assumption that all priests do is “say Mass and look after death”.
“There’s no concept that priests are involved in all kinds of spiritual and pastoral support for families in difficulty,” Bishop Doran continued, “to the poor, people in all sorts of circumstances, spiritual needs that can’t be met remotely.”
Regulations
Under current regulations, there are a list of essential services for which people are allowed to travel for work, Dr Doran explained.
“Clergy do not figure in any way on that list, other than a reference to those who are involved in death and funerals and then chaplains, and that seems to mean to institutions like hospitals,” Bishop Doran said.
There is a separate section which allows for exceptions to the travel ban and, following “significant lobbying” by the Catholic bishops, priests have been included.
“But we’re only included to the extent that you can travel to put on an online liturgy, you can travel for a funeral or a wedding and can travel for pastoral care of the sick,” Bishop Doran added. “Other than that, priests are not allowed exercise their public ministry in anyway.”
Meanwhile, following a question regarding a return to public worship, Táiniste Leo Varadkar said that: “Nearly every day there is one group or another making a good case as to why the rules should be relaxed, whether it is hunting, coursing, tennis, golf, gyms or children’s clothes. We feel that if we start relaxing regulations on a piecemeal basis at the moment, that will undermine what we are trying to achieve.”