The Government’s contempt for Mass-goers shows the need for a more robust approach

The right to religious worship has now been restricted in Ireland in some shape or form for 405 days. Apart from a brief period during the summer and the month of December, public Mass in the Republic has been disallowed for over a year.

Many good people – instinctively trusting that the Government knew what was best – believed that these restrictions have been necessary. This newspaper has been consistent in supporting the public health messaging while insisting that restrictions on the freedom to worship – no small thing – should only extend for as long as absolutely necessary. We have pointed to other examples around the world where public health officials have lifted restrictions on Mass with no consequent spread of Covid-19.

The Church has shown a willingness – bordering on the enthusiastic in some instances – to forgo public worship in the name of the common good. And what have we got in return? Contempt heaped upon scorn.

Time and again, the Government in the Republic has sought to put a return to Mass at the end of the queue in opening up society. In the original plan last year, Mass was not due to start until August – alongside museums (which gives some insight as to how policymakers view religious services). In the end after extensive lobbying, better judgement prevailed and Mass began at the end of June.

Banned

This time round, public worship has been banned since Christmas. But, rather than applaud the huge sacrifices people of faith have made alongside others in society the Health Minister went out of his way to criminalise Mass. This is despite the widespread adherence to the rule when it was just a regulation.

In the Irish Republic in 2021 it is now a penal offence (historic resonance much?) for a Catholic to try to attend Mass or a priest to celebrate Mass at which people could attend indoors and outdoors.

This has been described as provocative, and it would be hard to view it otherwise. Church leaders have decided upon a course of action in dealing with the Government that one bishop described to me recently as ‘diplomatic’. But, diplomacy implies a two-way street and there has been precious little ‘give’ from the Government. Indications now are that amid growing frustration Church leaders are opting to tinge their diplomacy with a more robust approach.

Welcome

This will be welcomed by many Catholics who have wondered at what they perceive as timidity from bishops in the face of prolonged restrictions and now the criminalisation of Mass-going. The bishops will no doubt reject the charge of timidity. They will insist that they have been between a rock and a hard place trying to observe the public health messaging while ensuring the safety of many elderly priests and parishioners. They will also not have expected the evident lack of consideration with which people of faith have been treated by the Government.

One bishop I spoke to this week wondered aloud at the level of contempt from the Government. “I can’t help but think that the enthusiasm with which we embraced the closing of the churches in the first place has not served us well”. He was not rejecting the need to suspend Mass for a period, but rather that there was so little pushback. When Mass ‘went online’ – as the phrase goes – we should have consistently underlined the heaviness of heart around the decision and the fact that it is a very poor substitute.

Reassert

We now need to reassert the central importance of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of our parish communities. Either intentionally or otherwise, the Church’s response to the pandemic has given the impression to at least some people that going to Mass doesn’t really matter.

It is alarming to see that some priests have publicly adopted this position in the guise of an excessive caution. If the message becomes that Mass doesn’t matter, don’t be surprised if the market gets the message.