Dear
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
On
Tuesday we heard the announcement that, from the 4th July this year, places of worship
will be able to reopen for prayer and services. We welcome this news with great
joy. Since the lockdown began, members of all faiths have faced restrictions on
how they have been able to celebrate important religious festivals. Our own experience
of Easter was unlike any other we have known. Now, in our churches, and with
our people, we can look forward again to celebrating the central mysteries of
our faith in the Holy Eucharist.
The
recent reopening of our churches for individual private prayer was an important
milestone on our journey towards resuming communal worship. Our churches that have
opened have put in place all the measures needed to ensure the risks of virus transmission
are minimised. This includes effective hand sanitisation, social distancing,
and cleaning. We remain committed to making sure these systems of hygiene and
infection control meet Government and public health standards.
We want
to thank everyone within the Catholic community for sustaining the life of faith
in such creative ways, not least in the family home. We thank our priests for celebrating
Mass faithfully for their people, and for the innovative ways in which they
have enabled participation through live-streaming and other means. We are grateful
for the pastoral care shown by our clergy to those for whom this time of lockdown
has been especially difficult, and, in particular, towards those who have been
bereaved. We recognise too the chaplaincy services that have played a vital
role in supporting those most in need. Gaining from the experience of all that
we have been through, and bringing those lessons into the future, we must now
look forward.
With the
easing of restrictions on worship with congregations, we tread carefully along
the path that lies ahead. Our lives have been changed by the experience of the pandemic
and it is clear that we cannot simply return to how things were before lockdown.
We remain centred on the Lord Jesus and His command at the Last Supper to “do
this in memory of me.” We must now rebuild what it means to be Eucharistic
communities, holding fast to all that we hold dear, while at the same time exploring
creative ways to meet changed circumstances.
It is
important to reaffirm that, at present, the obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains
suspended. A significant number of churches may remain closed as they are unable
to meet the requirements for opening for individual prayer. Fulfilling these requirements
is a precondition for any church opening after the 4th July for the celebration
of Mass with a congregation.
Please be
aware that there will be a limit on the number of people who can attend Mass in
our churches. This will determined locally in accordance with social distancing
requirements. We therefore need to reflect carefully on how and when we might
be able to attend Mass. We cannot return immediately to our customary practices.
This next step is not, in any sense, a moment when we are going ‘back to normal.’
We ask
every Catholic to think carefully about how and when they will return to Mass.
Our priests may need to consider whether it is possible to celebrate additional
Masses at the weekends. Given there is no Sunday obligation, we ask you to
consider the possibility of attending Mass on a weekday. This will ease the
pressure of numbers for Sunday celebrations and allow a gradual return to the
Eucharist for more people.
Moving
forward, there will still be many people who cannot attend Mass in person. We
therefore ask parishes, wherever possible, to continue live-streaming Sunday Mass,
both for those who remain shielding and vulnerable, and also for those unable to
leave home because of advanced age or illness.
When we
return to Mass there will some differences in how the celebration takes place.
For the time being, there will be no congregational singing and Mass will be shorter
than usual. None of this detracts from the centrality of our encounter with the
Risen Christ in the Eucharist. We ask everyone to respect and follow the
guidance that will be issued and the instructions in each church.
“As I
have loved you,” said the
Lord Jesus, “so you must love each other.” (Jn 13:34) The lockdown has
brought forth remarkable acts of charity, of loving kindness, from Catholics
across our communities as they have cared for the needy and vulnerable. We have
seen love in action through charitable works, and through the service of many
front-line keyworkers who are members of our Church. Now we can begin to return
to the source of that charity, Christ himself, present for us sacramentally, body,
blood, soul and divinity, in Holy Communion. As we prepare to gather again to
worship, let us, respectful of each other, come together in thanksgiving to God
for the immense gift of the Holy Eucharist.
Yours
devotedly in Christ
✠ Vincent Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
✠ Malcolm McMahon OP, Archbishop of Liverpool
✠ Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham
✠ John Wilson, Archbishop of Southwark
This
letter is addressed to the Catholic Community in England; the opening of the
Catholic Churches in Wales is devolved to the Welsh Assembly who are still
evaluating their position on opening Places of Worship.