Two articles that remind us of the huge responsibility there is on all church members to ensure they are not risking life or health when re-opening after lockdowns.
An Irish Times story about a Dublin church being forced to close after ignoring regulations also covers the comment by Archbishop Martin of Dublin about the need to respect the sacrifices made by so many.
“The current public health policy has required sacrifice on the part of all of us. People have accepted that. I think of those who have had to bury a loved one without the normal process of grieving, with funeral rites limited to a bare minimum. We must show respect for those whose sacrifice has been greatest.
Public health policy will only work when its proposals and sequencing are fully respected by all. There is no room for self-dispensation from or self-interpretation of the norms. Jumping the queue by individuals or communities puts everyone at risk”
In another article
Michael J. O’Loughlin of americamagazine.org interviews a man we have become familiar with on our TV news programmes, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
““There have been situations in multiple countries where the source of the cluster was a church service,” he said. “That’s the reason why we gotta be so careful about that.”
As a result, even if churches are open, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions should consider staying home, “because they really are at high risk,” he said. “It would be so tragic for someone who just comes to a place of worship, gets sick themselves, or gets infected and brings it home to an elderly person who might have a compromising comorbidity, and the person gets seriously ill and dies.”
Have just looked at your intro to Pathways to Synodality series. And I like what you say that you are including people who have some thoughts on this already. I also see that the Assoc of Religious are having an attempt to organise a group for laity towards this synodality process beginning with an input from the CEO from Viatores Christi. Then I looked at the info. on the Task Force on Renewal/Synodality set up by the Dublin Diocese and yes, equal membership of men and women (advisors are all male) but if we are serious about female involvement would it not be good if this Task Force were led by a woman?
So is it just me but all this seems like being led from the “top down rather than the bottom up”?
It also has such a feel of clericalism to it? A feel of the institutional church…it may have some good thinkers and thoughts and good intentions but God it sounds heavy, language weighted rather than freeing, expressive, creative and transformative…in thinking about all of the above these days the words of Meister Eckhert keep going round in my head, “I pray God to rid me of God”, (at least I think That’s his quote). Thank you. Anne.