‘Keep churches closed’ plea by Church of Ireland curate
CHURCH of Ireland curate Reverend Conor O’ Reilly has appealed for churches to remain closed over Easter, to protect the health of parishioners and avoid the mistakes that were made in the reopening of the country before Christmas. Reverend O’ Reilly of the Wexford and Kilscoran Union of Parishes based in the Rectory in Killinick, was prompted to write a letter to the Irish Times in response to the ongoing lobbying of Government for churches to be reopened in time for Easter, one of the most important times of the year in the christian calendar.
‘It would appear that little has been learned from what happened in the lead-up to Christmas 2020, when reopening various sectors of society had such disastrous consequences in the post-Christmas period’, he said.
‘Now is not the time to be lobbying for reopening. Rather this is the time for the exercising of pastoral responsibility and not giving people false hope by reopening prematurely.
‘The message of Easter will resonate throughout our land without needlessly risking people’s health and safety. It is my sincere hope that Church of Ireland bishops will not engage in any similar lobbying.’
Reverend O’ Reilly who has been based in Killinick since 2018, said he appreciates the sense of frustration that clergy and parishioners are experiencing at the closure of churches but in his view, it is a very necessary step in the interests of public health.
‘At this time, health and safety have to be placed above all other considerations. Self sacrifice is part of the Gospel message. If we have to sacrifice public worship for a period of time, so be it.
‘Everyone has had to make sacrifices during the past year and churches are no different. I would say that churches should lead by example in terms of helping to suppress the virus’.
‘People miss public workship. I fully understand that. I miss it myself’, said Reverend O’ Reilly who conducts a service online every Sunday morning at 9.30 a.m. from the rectory in Killinick.
While local people are unable to attend a Sunday morning service, the online facility has allowed people from further afield, including the UK and the US, to tune in to the service.
He also makes an assembly video once a week for the children of St. Iberius national school in Wexford town and while he misses face to face interaction with the students, he has received positive feedback from the remote sessions.
‘I would hope people would see where I am coming from. I don’t want any parishioner to be put at risk. I do appreciate that some people don’t have access to technology or the know-how. I am very conscious of that. We are in the situation we are in and we are doing our best to reach out to people..’
Reverend O’Reilly said churches were caught off guard by the first Covid-19 lockdown last March and many were not in a position to have Easter services online but this year will be different.
‘We are more prepared and more tech-savvy. The past year has been a learning curve for clergy and parishioners.’
‘I strongly believe churches should stay closed. No-one wants to go back to public workship more than I do, but not until sufficient numbers have been vaccinated.’
He said the demographic of those who attend churches would be quite high and that is one of the concerns. ‘You have to be cognisant of the wellbeing of parishioners. It’s a difficult decision to make but it’s to protect people’s health’.
Reverend O’ Reilly said that when churches were allowed to reopen after the first lockdown, protocols such as social distancing were put in place and they worked well. There were no reported incidences of Covid from a church service in the Wexford and Kilscoran Union.
But when the reopening happened in December, he became concerned. ‘My gut was telling me that it was not a good idea and come January, we were going to have problems’.