Credit: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters/File Photo Notebook
I know it’s early days and we have had just two weekends of congregations back at Mass but I have to confess the whole experience is leaving me as a priest somewhat cold. Like most people I was relieved when the authorities gave us the green light to begin to open our churches for worship again.
I am fortunate to have a great group of volunteers who together with our parish council, worked very diligently to prepare for the re-opening. Initially I was somewhat daunted by the pages of regulations and systems to be put in place but when that work was shared with a team everything came together very smoothly.
Challenge
Our biggest challenge was how to ensure that no more than the maximum number allowed would come into the church for any one Mass. I did not want to have to turn away anyone who arrived and I certainly did not want our volunteer ushers to have to ask their neighbours and friends to leave the church. We devised a system of ‘reserving’ a place in the church based on alphabetical lists of parishioners. The first week it was surnames A, B or C, the second week it was D to G and so on. The system has been working very well but the numbers showing interest in coming is so far very low. The biggest number is coming from families who have anniversary Masses booked. We have more people attending weekday Mass than at the weekend and we have encouraged those who can come during the week to leave the weekend Masses for those who cannot be there on weekdays.
While I’m reasonably happy with how we have planned this re-opening there are a number of issues that concern me and I’m sure many others as well. Looking at less than 50 people scattered around our large church huddled in small family groups or just isolated couples and individuals is not a happy sight.
The fact that most have their faces partially covered with masks adds to the distressing vista. I have no sense of an expression on their faces other than that most mask wearing people look somewhat frightened.
Nostalgic
I find myself becoming nostalgic for the back one-third of the church being full every weekend. I’m not in any way seeking to challenge any of the requirements or procedures here. I’m simply trying to articulate what the experience of the new reality is like for me as a priest.
There are of course other questions which occupy my mind. Why are so few people interested in coming back to Mass? Have we lost many people from our congregations for good? There is evidence that many people, including those who did not attend Mass regularly, were tuning into mass online from various churches.
They shopped around until they found a liturgy that somehow met their spiritual needs and far from being a poor substitute for physically attending mass, they actually found it an uplifting experience and the fact that they did not have to leave their own home, or even get dressed, was an added attraction.
I am acutely aware that not being able to receive Communion during the months of closed churches was a significant hunger for many people. I also know that our Church leaders from the pope down, constantly remind us that ‘virtual’ liturgies are no substitute for being together as a community. However, I hope some professional research will be done around broadcast Masses and celebrations and the impact they are having in Faith lives.
Whatever about times of pandemic, the decreasing number of priests and the consequent smaller number of Masses will continue to encourage many people to access liturgies online.
In the meantime I can only hope and pray that the new normal begins to look and feel a bit more relaxed and life-giving.
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A church
‘Let there always be quiet, dark churches in which we can take refuge. Places where we can kneel in silence, houses of God, filled with His silent presence. There, even when we do not know how to pray, at least we can be still and breathe easily. Let there be a place somewhere in which you can breathe naturally, quietly, and not have to take your breath in continuous short gasps, a place where your mind can be idle, and forget its concerns, descend into silence, and worship the Father in secret. There can be no contemplation where there is no secret place!’ – Thomas Merton
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The Menu!
A parish decided to have four separate Masses each Sunday. One was for those new to the Faith, another for regulars who preferred a more traditional liturgy. The third was for those who lost their Faith and wanted to find it again and the fourth was for those who had unfortunate experiences with other Churches and had some complaints. The four divisions were named: finders, keepers, losers, weepers!