Dear Bishops of England, Wales and Scotland

Dear Bishops of England, Wales and Scotland.
Please spare a couple of minutes to watch this very short video regarding the closure of churches: A lot of people have asked what they could do to let the bishops of England, Wales and Scotland know how desperate they are to be allowed into the church and receive Confession. We asked some of them if they would like to be part of this short video. Please know that there are many people willing to assist their priests to help make it safe (and within government guidelines) to pray in the church or to go to Confession. If there is anything else we can do to hasten the reopening of churches and to make Confession more available, please let us know. You are in our prayers. God bless you and your ministry



Comments

  1. Gerald22 April 2020 at 20:16

    What we particularly want is Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. In our church safe distancing is no problem. In a Blessed Sacrament Chapel it could be but the answer would be to use the Main Altar. For confession, use a disinfected cloth screen between the priest and the penitent. A priest we know has done this to hear confessions.

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  2. Unknown23 April 2020 at 21:29

    So, we are in a wilderness. Christ came through that. Church is not the building - WE are CHURCH - the Church Universal. Of course we miss the Sacraments - currently they are far from us - They will return. Christ, however is, and will always, be present. In these times we are having to embrace a whole new understanding of our Faith - and we are having to practice it in unfamiliar, strange and, yes, painful ways. It is a massive challenge but we will get through it united in hope and prayer.

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  3. Frank Ashcroft27 April 2020 at 07:33

    I would like to make a few comments on the video. The desire for our churches to re-open and the grief that they are closed is something I understand and share.

    However it is important to be rational about the issues. The video says that visiting a church can be made as safe as visiting a supermarket. Assuming that this is true and that the chances of being infected these activities is small, visiting both a supermarket and a church doubles the chance of becoming infected and then, as a result, passing the infection on to others. The video also states that older priests will not be put at risk, but of course they will. Social distancing reduces but not eliminates the chance of the infection being passed on. The key for bishops is: are the extra infections worth the benefits of churches being open? I have no idea how they will make such a determination but the decision is theirs to make. Please pray for them.

    If I were a bishop (and fortunately for the Church and my soul I am not) I don't think I would decide that praying before a tabernacle was worth the extra infections but because this is such a difficult decision I wouldn't criticise a bishop who decided the other way .

    Where I think the argument is stronger is around souls being placed in imminent danger due to the lack of sacraments particularly Confession. I am greatly troubled by the thought of someone in a state of mortal sin unable to manage perfect contrition and unable to access the forgiveness provided by the sacrament. I am also worried about babies whose baptisms are delayed and couples seeking to regularise their unions unable to do so at the present because matrimony is not available to them.

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