To allow or not to allow First Holy Communion and Confirmation again?

People are starting to realise that public health is no longer the overwhelming consideration it once was, writes David Quinn

To what extent are we morally obliged to follow public health guidance, and does there ever come a point at which we can decide for ourselves that other considerations override that guidance?

Ever since March of last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to take a grip on the country, almost all of us have been happy to follow public health advice, which often had the backing of penal sanctions.

Some people were delighted to do so, because it meant at least a temporary end to long commutes to and from work. Many people would prefer to work from home forever.

On the other hand, there were many others who either lost their jobs or had them put on ice, especially in sectors like hospitality. Lockdown for these workers could mean staring at the four walls of a small flat all day. It may even have meant being locked up with an abusive, drunken partner or parent.

Still others had to keep going out to work every day. These were essential workers like nurses and doctors, those working in food shops or food processing, journalists and so on. They had to risk their health and even their lives on a daily basis while the rest of us stayed at home.

Meanwhile young people found their education placed on hold. Zoom classes were no substitute for in-class learning.

In other words, the Covid-19 measures affected different people in different ways. Economically and socially speaking, they created winners and losers.

Ireland’s restrictions have been among the most onerous in Europe. Schools were kept closed for longer than anywhere else, for instance. So was the hospitality industry and so, of course, was public worship.

For some, this was a matter of national pride, especially when we compared ourselves with Britain or America which had much bigger deaths tolls per head of population and seemingly reckless leadership.

Compare

But it was always ridiculous to compare ourselves with countries that have much bigger populations and massive urban conglomerations.

It made much more sense to compare ourselves with other, small, sparsely population countries on the edge of Europe, like Norway or Finland. Each of those countries has had smaller death tolls per million than we have had, and their restrictions have tended to be less onerous.

Even Sweden, which never fully locked down, has a death rate to-date roughly equivalent to our own when you adjust for their older population.

So, have our very restrictive, long-lasting restrictions really done us as much good as we think, or have they caused unnecessary harms, such as damaging the educational prospects of children, and taken away too many of our liberties?

Does there come a point at which it is morally permissible to ignore a given guideline on the grounds that it is disproportionate, unjustified, and even against the common good?

This is the dilemma bishops have faced when presented with continued advice against holding First Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremonies.

These ceremonies are now finished for the year in the North because they were restarted months ago. They caused no obvious spike in Covid-19 cases.

All over Europe, children have been free for weeks, if not months to make their First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

Given these facts, it would have been very strange if at least some bishops did not begin to question the reasonableness of the guidelines. This is especially so when a lot of parishes are already allowing small groups of children to make their First Holy Communion at the ordinary weekend Masses and pressure from parents is mounting.

Permission

Some bishops have now acted and given their priests formal permission to allow ceremonies to go ahead. In the case of bishops, the question of Confirmation is especially pertinent, because only a bishop or a nominated priest, may confirm a child (or an adult as the case may be).

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, has told his priests they can hold First Holy Communion ceremonies again, although his own preference is that they wait until the middle of next month, which is also the Government’s new preference.

Presumably this means he will not personally be presiding at Confirmation ceremonies himself, and may delegate no other priest to do so?

However, a majority of bishops have not given priests permission to allow First Holy Communion and Confirmation before the public health advice changes. We could characterise this as a ‘split’ in the hierarchy, and I suppose it is, to a certain extent, but it would be surprising if they were all on the same page about this.

No doctrinal issue is at stake. It is a prudential judgement whether to press ahead with ceremonies now, or wait for Government permission and therefore different bishops, priests and lay-people will legitimately hold different views about the matter.

Some will be of the opinion that in the context of a pandemic, public health advice must be followed at all times, for the sake of the common good.

Vaccinated

Others will decide that with so many people now fully vaccinated, we can start to make our own decisions again and go against public health guidelines in limited cases. Public health advice will almost always err on the side of caution in any case. In life, different goods must be held in balance, and health is only one of them. The common good takes many considerations into account.

In my view, what has happened over the past week or so is a good development. People are starting to realise that at this point in the pandemic, public health is no longer the overwhelming consideration it once was.

The debate inside the Church about the topic is also a good sign. It is not a cut-and-dried matter whether First Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremonies should go ahead again now. It is one of those issues about which Catholics may, in good faith, differ from each other.