The new Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell Ruadhán Jones
Bishop Dermot Farrell of Ossory said Catholics look forward to the day they “can attend in person, and receive sacramentally again” and lamented the “loss of the community dimension of our Faith” due to the suspension of public Masses.
In his pastoral letter on Ascension Sunday, Bishop Farrell said that people are “grateful for the televised celebrations”. However, he pointed out they can’t replace Catholics’ need “to be in communion with each other, and in communion with their Lord”.
“We believe that the Sacraments are privileged moments of encounter with God,” he wrote. “Through these actions of the community of Faith, we are drawn into a deeper relationship with God and with each other.
“Through Baptism and the Eucharist we are incorporated into Christ.”
Bishop Farrell wrote that becoming one in Christ is a long-term process which requires the Sacraments.
Sacraments
“The Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, are food for day-to-day lives,” he wrote. “As we could not receive these Sacraments during the pandemic, we were not being nourished and strengthened by them in the usual way.”
Bishop Farrell noted that, from the beginning, the Church has been a community who gathered around our Lord.
“It is not our faith that has been taken from us – but the closeness, the touch, of those who accompany us on the road of life,” he wrote.