Caution at last paying dividends

YOU don’t have to be a daily communicant Catholic to think yesterday’s return to public worship is another indication that we’ve turned a corner.

For the fourth day in a row, no further coronavirus-related deaths were recorded by the Department of Health. An additional 181 people tested positive for Covid-19.

The number of coronavirus-linked fatalities has now fallen for the eighth week in succession. All in all, auspicious timing for the “cautious return” to Catholic services ahead of Holy Week and Easter.

Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian churches will resume in-person services from Good Friday, April 2.

All the Churches displayed great leadership during the pandemic by voluntarily suspending public worship, even when not required to do so by the Executive’s Covid-19 regulations.

They also demonstrated impressive technical ability in moving many services online.

Belfast priest Fr Martin Magill and his Presbyterian counterpart, Rev Steve Stockman, have been writing about the challenges — and rewards — of remote worship in the Belfast Telegraph for a year now. But there is something unique about public worship — the feeling of communing with fellow believers — that no amount of Zoom calls can ever replace.

Catholic bishops have stressed the need for the “rigorous application of all mitigations required” to ensure a safe return to Mass.

The requirement for a “thorough risk assessment” before restarting services may mean some parishes delaying the lifting of suspension.

However, the prospect of once more receiving the sacrament of communion — something that can’t be replicated on a webcam — is guaranteed to gladden the heart of every believer. There have been false dawns before in this pandemic. There is a sense, though, that this time the Executive’s caution — for which it was often derided — is finally beginning to pay dividends. If the return of public worship heralds the reopening of our other shuttered sectors, it will, indeed, be a reason to rejoice.