Blog

Seamus Ahearne has time to de-clutter and observe and write;
“it is the cleaners, the bin men, the shelf packers, the shop servers, the drivers of the lorries, the post people, the orderlies, the receptionists taking calls, the local nurses and doctors, the shoppers for the cocooned….. We need eyes to see and to appreciate and to be grateful….. if there is an outbreak of generosity and gratitude; Eucharist is happening.”

Suggestion – put a green branch on your door or window on Palm Sunday.

Pádraig McCarthy offers practical suggestions for an alternative style of Holy Week from the norm.

Daniel P Horan in the NCR writes on the closure of churches and the suspension of public acts of worship in this time of pandemic.
“we are all called upon to care for one another by taking extraordinary measures that includes the suspension of public worship, means learning to see our love of neighbor not only as an assent to “worldly” or “secular” medical wisdom, but also an actual exercise of our love of God. Each of the manifold ways we are sacrificing to love our neighbors — self-isolation, quarantining, tending to the sick at home, supporting first responders, avoiding public places, not hoarding supplies, working remotely and even not going physically to church buildings — is itself an expression of our love of God.”

Patsy McGarry writes in The Irish Times of priests under pressure to perform funeral Masses despite Covid-19 and of significant numbers of Irish Catholic priests cocooned in their homes as they are over 70.

Katie Ascough on catholicireland.net reports on a joint statement issued by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, Church of Ireland, Methodist Church in Ireland, Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Irish Council of Churches.

Should Church buildings now be closed following the further severe restrictions announced last evening by An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and Minister for Health, Simon Harris?

Seamus Ahearne is reflecting on the imposed restrictions and like many is making discoveries about himself: “I need people! The empty house. The silence. The absence of banter. The non-visiting. The non-communion (2 metres).”
But there is also the awareness that “We have been given so much. We cannot take it for granted.  The virus tells us of this being one world and that we share a common world. We all belong. We all need each other.”

A proposal of how we can mark the occasion of Easter when we cannot gather to celebrate……
Any other practical ideas, in keeping with best practice Public Health guidelines?

Brendan Hoban, in his Western People column, says that our response to the corona virus pandemic “depends on how, as a people, we respond to the challenges facing us and whether our traditional ability to pull together to do what has to be done will serve us in the days and weeks and months ahead”

With the horrific death toll from the Coronavirus pandemic in Italy now rising towards 5,500 the Catholic News Agency reports that at least 60 Italian priests have died from COVID-19

Tony Flannery, in his own blog, cites the fact that scripture scholars are now saying much, and more, of what he was silenced for ten years ago. The difference is that there is now no problem with scholars expressing their thoughts and opinions and engaging in a healthy discussion of the topics involved.

Seamus Ahearne was somewhat redundant on Sunday morning. “I read the Morning Prayer very slowly. I had to do it out-loud.  Otherwise, it was in danger of being rushed thoughtlessly.  And my mind retreated to the past.  The long distant past.”

Chris McDonnell in the Catholic Times recounts the life of Ernesto Cardenal, Priest, Poet and Politician, who died recently at the age of 95

Seamus Ahearne gives his thoughts on the reality we are now face with. “A new Religion may be taking shape just now. It is forced on us.  Communion is expressed by keeping distance.”

Note from the Apostolic Penitentiary on the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the current pandemic.

Hope filled words in a time of crisis, by Chris McDonnell

RTÉ to air daily Mass and minority faith messages during the Covid-19 emergency
RTÉ News Now can be accessed on Saorview (channel 21), Sky (521), Virgin Media (200), Eir (517) as well as via the RTÉ Player, the RTÉ News Now app and via RTÉ.ie/news.

Brendan Hoban writes in the Western People about the current situation with efforts to help slow the spread of COVID-19
“when we don’t know, or can’t know what to do, as with the corona virus, a respectful silence is probably the best option. It’s a time, if ever there was a time, when what the experts say has to be heard and acted upon.”

Tim Hazelwood outlines a recent meeting between a lay group supporting Fr Tony, two representatives of the ACP, and members of the leadership of the Irish Province of the Redemptorist Order.