Fr Kevin bucks the lock-down with drive-thru Masses
PARISH Priest of Moyvane Fr
Kevin McNamara has spoken of his joy on finally being able to celebrate Mass in the presence of the people after hitting on a novel way of sidestepping the restrictions: by facilitating it as a ‘drive-through’!
As of last week, Fr Kevin has taken to celebrating daily Mass from the side door of the parish church in Moyvane, and it’s getting a great reaction.
He might not characterise the solemn occasion as a ‘drivethru’, but that’s basically how it is enabling him to say Mass before real human beings for the first time since the lock-down bit – as his flock pull up in their cars to hear it over the tannoy.
It might have been an obvious step from the recent open-air Stations of the Cross Fr Kevin mounted for Easter, and the response is proving every bit as heartening for the cleric.
“The sense of relief at seeing a priest in his vestments celebrating Mass was palpable,” Fr Kevin told The Kerryman.
“And it felt great for me as a priest to be able to see people in front of me while celebrating Mass. I just opened the doors on the side aisle last Thursday and said the Mass outside from the porch, and we have done it that way every evening since, as well as on Sunday morning.”
Footage filmed by parishioners at the weekend showed numerous cars ranged before the cleric. “The word is getting out steadily. We had maybe 10 to 15 cars the first couple of nights, but there was up to 35 by the weekend, with more and more phone calls enquiring about it each day,” Fr Kevin explained.
He said he was keen for it not to intrude on people in terms of the tannoy broadcast each evening, but so far the response has been overwhelmingly positive: “People have been very positive to it. We’re surrounded here by a wood so people can sit safely distant from each other on the benches or stay within their cars too, and it’s great to welcome more as the restrictions are eased that bit more. We’ve also been blessed with the weather, which is a big help.”
Fr Kevin begins each night with a decade of the Rosary from 7.15pm before Mass begins at 7.30pm; with the Rosary beginning at 10.45am on Sundays prior to 11am Mass. Communion is, of course, out for now: “I just give a little blessing instead. We just have to look at ways and means of going about things now, and it’s not yet clear how eventually we will be able to give Communion to people. But it’s all a positive step forward in these difficult times at least, and my bottom line is trying to keep that contact with the people at all times,” Fr Kevin explained.