Church preparing for normal service
Perth and Kinross churches are preparing to reopen again with plans which insist on masks being worn and hand sanitiser being used.
Bishop Stephen Robson, Catholic bishop of Dunkeld said: “lockdown has been particularly devastating for all of us.”
The Catholic Church is now preparing to reopen its buildings as phase two of the Scottish Government’s route map out of lockdown allows places of worship to open for prayer.
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to announce further easing of lockdown restrictions on Thursday with the start of phase two.
The Bishops’ Conference of
Scotland has finalised its plans for how Catholic churches can resume activities.
The guidelines provided to churches recommend cleaning and disinfecting church buildings, two-metre physical distancing being observed, increased hand washing with the provision of hand sanitiser and face coverings being worn at all times within church buildings, except by the priest within liturgical services when at least two metres of physical distance is possible.
Bishop Robson and the seven other Scottish Catholic bishops sent a pastoral letter to Scotland’s 600 Catholic priests this month.
He told the PA: “Lockdown has been particularly devastating for all of us because our churches have been closed for the entire period of this global emergency.
“Not since the middle ages and in some incidences of the plague have we had, as church and society, to do this degree of isolation here in Scotland.
“As Catholics we use our churches for Masses and services every day and so it has been hard on our people, who have been starved of holy communion, baptisms and marriages.
“The sacrament of the anointing of the sick and dying continues as normal, using the appropriate hygiene measures of course, and our chaplains have been active in our hospitals, especially being there for COVID-19 patients.”
He added: “It has also been particularly upsetting for our people in that they have not been able to access the usual services of the church in the case of death and bereavement.
“Though our priests have been able to hold burial services in the crematoria and in graveyards and cemeteries, the consolation of a Requiem Mass for the faithful departed and their bereaved relatives is exceedingly powerful within our community and this has not been possible until now.”
The bishop added: “I believe the cautious approach taken in Scotland has been exceedingly responsible, cautious but compassionate.
“It seems axiomatic that our emergence from the restrictions imposed on us must be phased and therefore gradual and responsible but also based on a hopeful but realistic return to the ‘new normal’ with its social distancing and sensible and effective hygiene requirements, whatever is implied by this.”
He said the Catholic Church plans to first open churches for private prayer in phase two before “gradually reintroducing the normal sacramental services and community celebrations one would normally find in a normal functioning Catholic parish”.